Evidence of meeting #39 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Jacob Irving  President, Canadian Hydropower Association
Dan Gibson  Senior Environmental Specialist, Canadian Hydropower Association
Chris Bloomer  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association
Francis Bradley  Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Electricity Association
Jay Walmsley  Senior Environmental Scientist , Aquatic, Nova Scotia Power, Canadian Electricity Association
Matt Sullivan  Executive Director, P.E.I. Aquaculture Alliance
Kate Lindsay  Director, Environmental Regulations and Conservation Biology, Forest Products Association of Canada

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Before we get to the business of the day, before we get down to work, I would like to pass this along to the public as well as all of our committee members here. It's something tragic that happened recently.

Christian Brun has been a witness here for years. He's the director general of the Maritime Fishermen's Union and the president of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvester's Federation. Those are just two of his titles. He has passed away.

On behalf of the committee, we would like to send out condolences to his family. To pay our respects—I don't know if this has been done before—given his involvement in this industry and the times that he's appeared in front of us, I would like to ask everyone here in the room for a moment of silence for Mr. Brun.

[A moment of silence observed]

Thank you, everybody, for that.

There is one item that we have to address. In talking to my colleagues, I realize that there's a problem that has come up.

My apologies to the witnesses. We'll be there in just a few moments.

We have received hundreds of submissions. As you know, input to this study was through our website, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. The deadline passed November 30 and we received hundreds. The process to have these submissions translated has now come to our attention. Just to give you an idea, well over 90% of the submissions were in one language, either French or in English, not bilingual. Therefore, as the rules dictate, in order for me to distribute them, they have to be in both official languages.

Because of the number of submissions we have received, it's going to take a lot of time. As you know, next week we're in camera, and we're coming with suggestions for recommendations to go into this report. I've been advised that a lot of them will not be ready in both official languages. As you know, if we are to distribute in one language only, we have to receive the unanimous consent of the committee to do this.

Are there any questions on this before we go to a unanimous consent vote?

We have been assured that eventually they will be translated and distributed to the committee; it just won't be any time soon. Therefore, I'm asking the committee for unanimous consent to distribute them to the committee in one language only, as is.

Mr. Arnold.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You said you didn't expect it would be any time soon. Are you considering that we would not see them in time to put our recommendations into the report?

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

That is correct.

Mr. Doherty.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Mr. Chair, I think on all sides we've expressed concern over the time frame that has been allotted to do this study. I think that, again, if we are going to do this properly, and indeed take into account all the testimony as well as the submissions, we need to provide enough time to be able to have all of the testimony before us in both languages.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Okay.

Mr. Donnelly.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We knew that this was going to happen when we invited the public to provide comments from across the country. Even though the committee didn't have an opportunity to travel across the country, to go to the different coasts to hear from people, when we invite comment we should definitely take the time to hear in both official languages what those comments are. This is standard on every committee and has been the standard practice in the past, so we need to adhere to that practice.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Do I have unanimous consent to distribute the input that we received, the deadline for which was November 30, in one official language?

Seeing none, they will be distributed when they have been fully translated.

Some will be forwarded to you. There are a few, not that many, that are in both official languages. We will distribute those. For the rest, we'll wait until we receive the translation of the documents.

Mr. Donnelly, please.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Could you give us an idea of when that would be? Are we looking at this year, or early next year?

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Realistically, it will be in the new year. Forget about December. It may be in January or around the first week of February.

Mr. Arnold.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

At what point do we expect to be wrapping up our final recommendations for this report?

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

For two meetings next week we'll have discussions on recommendations coming forward. Then we'll continue that discussion into February. We can carve out some time next week to talk about how we're going to handle the situation when we come back. I remind the committee members that we're also in the middle of two studies that we will also address next week. One we may finish; the other one, meaning the cod study, maybe not so much. We may have to look at that in February.

Mr. Donnelly.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

I have a question, Mr. Chair, on the schedule. We haven't published the schedule for next week.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Haven't we published the schedule for next week?

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

When are we deciding on that schedule, the agenda? Are we going into subcommittee at all?

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

A subcommittee meeting was not planned. If you wish to have one, we can talk about that at the end of this meeting. If you want to consult with your colleagues, we can talk about a subcommittee meeting.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

I'm just curious; what's the plan for next week?

December 5th, 2016 / 3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Next week we have, obviously, the discussion, all in camera. We're discussing this study, the Fisheries Act review, for the first hour. For the second hour we will do the salmon study. On Wednesday, the first hour will be the Fisheries Act review. The second hour will be the cod study.

There was some talk of discussing Bill S-208, which was passed in the House of Commons. I'll put on my other hat now. As the mover of that bill, I'm electing to bring that to committee in February. It's not immediate, of course. The deadline is still out to April.

Mr. Donnelly.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

I guess that begs the question about having the environment commissioner come here before the end of the year.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

That's correct.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

That, I'm assuming now, is not happening.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Unless you want to make a motion as such, yes, because the last time we spoke about it we agreed that we would focus on the Fisheries Act review and the other two studies we have to look at. The commissioner, we could possibly have in the new year if you wish.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

It was always my impression that we were looking at the end of November.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

We were, originally, but then we said we'd do the Fisheries Act review as a priority. Like I said, though, it's not written in stone. If you want to consult with colleagues and bring it up for discussion, you most certainly can. If you want to bring the environment commissioner in, that will mean that one of the things will have to be put forward.

3:35 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC

The timing for giving her notice to come would have to be now, because it would be Monday at the earliest.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Scott Simms

Correct.