Fisheries Committee on June 1st, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Cormier.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

We just voted to have the minister appear before the committee for at least four hours. I would like the minister to come as often as she can, but I believe we also want to hear about the effects COVID-19 has had on the industry, on the fisheries, on plant workers, and on coastal communities, as much in British Columbia as in the Maritimes and the Far North.

I understand what the committee members want to do by inviting the minister every month, but I also want to hear from members of the industry on the ground, particularly those really affected by COVID-19. I want to know what impact it has had on the fishers, the industry as a whole and our communities. I feel that studies will be done and that people will come to talk about their various concerns, with regard to Big Bar in British Columbia, for example. We also have a lot of concerns on the Atlantic coast.

If the minister appears for four hours, I believe we will have plenty of time to ask her all the questions we want to ask on various subjects. I also feel that we need to hear from the organizations, the fishers and all those who want to give us information about the difficulties the fishing industry is experiencing because of COVID-19 and who also want to talk to us about the future, the aftermath of COVID-19. We need to know what measures we can implement to provide the support needed to this entire industry, which is certainly suffering from this pandemic. I feel we need to give priority to these organizations to come before the committee and talk to us about the impact they have been experiencing since COVID-19 hit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Johns.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think there are a couple of things that have come up.

Mr. Beech said that we don't know about the committee sitting beyond June. I think we need to deal with that. We are in unprecedented times. This is the greatest economic crisis that we've seen since the Great Depression. I think it's absolutely essential that we meet at least monthly to have discussions with our stakeholders to make sure that as things need to be amended, we are able to react quickly.

I would like to move an amendment that we do meet twice a month until the House resumes business at the end of September. The amendment would be that this committee meet two times a month in July, August and September, until the House resumes. Without that, it's hard to have the minister testify before the committee, but we need to commit that our committee is going to meet. I think it's absolutely essential to establish that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Johns, can you clarify this for me? Are you making an amendment to the original motion by putting dates in when the committee sits, which would have nothing to do with the minister appearing? I'm just wondering.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I think it's hard for the minister to commit to meeting with a committee that hasn't established they're going to meet. The motion right now is that the minister appear before the committee once a month until September, but we need to first establish that the committee is going to meet. I would like to amend the motion to read “and that the committee meet two times per month in the months of July and August”. That would be the amendment to the motion that's put forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I know, Gord, you're introducing it as an amendment, but I'm just thinking that the amendment is not part and parcel with the original motion, so it probably should be dealt with as a separate issue.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I'm fine with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Fast.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

I'm speaking in favour of the motion. I note the last time we met was March 12, at which time I believe we were discussing herring bait. The officials refused to answer any questions on one of the key issues, which was seal predation.

I also note there's a long list of proposed studies we were going to embark upon which we assumed we'd be able to get done this year: sport fishing, seal predation, recreational fishing, illegal and unreported fishing, fishing gear, mislabelling, and Fraser steelhead, which Mr. Arnold brought forward.

How are we ever going to get the work of this committee done if we don't meet and if we don't have the ability to call the minister forward to respond to our legitimate concerns? We have an existential west coast salmon threat here in British Columbia that we're all concerned about as Canadians. I would be just as concerned with some of the threats on the east coast.

This committee was recently recalled. Yes, these are unprecedented times, and unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. Setting a number of days each month that we meet and setting a schedule when the minister would be able to appear before us is eminently reasonable, in my mind.

Now think about it. The minister has had three months when she's had virtually no engagement with our committee. These are times when she should be fully briefed on the issues we have raised at committee. Surely her appearing before the committee on a regular basis isn't too much of a stretch for her.

In the interest of transparency, I think we need to have access to the minister on a reasonable schedule going forward. On that basis, I'm supporting Mr. Arnold's motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Fast.

Mr. Battiste.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

I think we are in challenging times. I've been looking at the papers today, and they're saying this is the worst lobster season to hit Cape Breton since the 1970s. I believe the point of this committee is to hear from stakeholders, to hear from people involved in the fisheries. I don't want to be hearing from just the minister and DFO; I want to hear from the people in my riding, my constituents. I want to hear what's going on across Canada on the fisheries. I really feel what we need to do is hear from people, hear from witnesses, and then make recommendations to the minister.

I do support Mr. Johns' idea of twice a month. I wouldn't want to waste half of that by always having the same witness, the minister. I'd like to have that be stakeholders who can tell us what's going on in the fisheries, which allows us to make the recommendations we need to improve the fisheries in Canada. I just don't see that we need to always bring the minister in, and I don't believe I'll be supporting this motion of making sure that we have to hear from the minister every month.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Madam Gill.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Actually, Mr. Fast kind of took the words out of my mouth with regard to the first point I wanted to raise. As has been mentioned a number of times, we have never lived through anything like this. A lot of people are in crisis. We mentioned the North, the Maritimes and the West, but the same thing is happening in Quebec.

Unlike Mr. Battiste, I do not feel that one precludes the other. We can certainly ask the minister to appear before the committee over the summer, and hear witnesses as well. At that time, depending on our need to hear from people, as Mr. Johns suggested, we can set the committee's agenda for this summer, but in my opinion, we can call witnesses from the community as well as the minister, because we need them right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Madam Gill.

Mr. Arnold.

Mr. Arnold, you're still on mute.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

There are too many different ways of muting and unmuting. This certainly isn't Parliament.

Mr. Chair, it may be prudent at this point to suggest tabling the motion about the minister. Perhaps what we should deal with first is the meeting schedule for the committee, and then we would be better suited to determine how many meetings we may want the minister to appear for.

If others agree, I would agree to table this motion temporarily until we determine a meeting schedule for the committee for the month of June and for the summer months.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mel.

Mr. Calkins, you had your hand up for a few seconds. Do you still wish to speak to the original motion?

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

If Mel is going to withdraw the motion to deal with the committee schedule first, and then present it again, I'll make my interventions at that particular point in time.

Mr. Chair, could you just clarify that Mr. Arnold's motion is no longer before the committee?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I believe what Mr. Arnold said was that he would table this until we deal with the actual schedule and then come back to his motion after that.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Very well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Johns.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to move that the committee meet two times a month in July, August and September until the House meets.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Johns, you're moving that the committee meet two times a month until the House reconvenes. Of course, our schedule is set for the month of June, so that would be aside from the June meetings that are already scheduled.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Chair, I would be satisfied with just setting right now that we meet twice in July and twice in August, because we do reconvene in September.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Johns.

Is there any discussion on that?

Madam Gill.