I think you have to centralize expertise in the right agency. When we're dealing with an energy issue, the National Energy Board should just be dealing with that energy issue. Do we have enough natural gas for future generations? Do we build a pipeline across provincial boundaries? Why would the National Energy Board then determine what's good for fish in every stream they put that pipeline across? That makes no sense at all. Get all the agencies to do their job properly and efficiently versus the fragmentation we now have, as I mentioned.
When it comes to the Fisheries Act, we probably have 12 different groups across Canada looking at the Fisheries Act and applying it. That's the exact opposite to what the pipeline industry asked for when I was with DFO in about the year 2000. They complained and whined a lot and it had a lot to do with the butchering of the Fisheries Act. They said, “When we're in B.C. we have to tunnel under a river to protect salmon and when we go to Alberta, we can just rip through the river, an open trench. Why is there this difference?” They went to Ottawa and complained that they wanted one approach.
Well, after 2012, it appears we have more different approaches than ever. Is that efficiency? That's going to be costly and it's going to create a lot of confusion, including confusion in the courts in terms of who is really in charge. There's this myth that the Fisheries Act slowed down the economy. Well, when habitat came into the Fisheries Act, the economy kept growing and growing. I didn't see any decrease in the economy anywhere, so I think there is a bit of a myth there that we have to get rid of the Fisheries Act. That certainly didn't occur at all.
Yes, it can be done more efficiently. When we look at DFO resources right now, they've really been chopped since 2012, so yes, they'll need some additional resources, but even more so, they need expertise. As I mentioned, they need a better organization. They need more expertise in management. Some of the management at DFO leaves a lot of doubts in my mind.