Evidence of meeting #34 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was regard.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Thank you, Mr. Bragdon.
I will continue to say that I meet with industry regularly. I meet with my provincial counterparts regularly. I meet with first nations on a regular basis. I—
6 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Minister, before the Discovery Islands decision, did you meet with the provincial minister of fisheries, your counterpart, prior to that decision and talk to them about that decision, yes or no?
6 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I had many meetings with Minister Popham. I have had meetings with....
I will continue to have those discussions.
6:05 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
This is breaking news here. It seemed that they were unaware of the timing of this announcement and were unaware that this announcement was going to take place. Did you lay out transition plans, as was recommended by the department? It was recommended that transition plans be made for the sector that was going to be most affected, the B.C. farmers and the aquaculture sector.
How can we say we're for a blue economy, but we don't even allow transition plans or a transition period for them to navigate these types of decisions?
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
My decision on the Discovery Islands was, as I have said many times, not an easy one to make. It was made after there were consultations with the seven first nations in that area, recognizing that this was not a good fit in their territory. This is what I heard from them during the consultation process that I went through with them.
I will say that I have met with the Province of British Columbia. My parliamentary secretary has an ongoing relationship with the Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Aquaculture in British Columbia. I have met with Premier Horgan. I have met with a number of stakeholders on both the west and east coasts, and my departmental officials have continually been meeting as well.
6:05 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Minister, did you meet with the industry? They have requested a meeting several times.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
I'm sorry, Mr. Bragdon, your time has gone a little bit over. I allowed for your frozen time to be added in there, and you weren't punished for that.
We'll now go to Mr. Hardie for five minutes or less, please.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Just reporting out, Minister Jordan, I've heard from my old friend Alex Morton on the west coast. She's done a review of the sea lice situation and young salmon going past the farms that are now not operating. There is a reduction of about 90% in the infestation there.
I have to say that on the one hand we hear, “Well, you've got to act”, and then “Well, no; you'd better wait until you talk to this one, that one and the other one.” We were dealing with an urgent situation, and you took, I think, very brave and very immediate action, and it was clearly necessary, given the kind of damage that was being done there. That's my commentary.
Here's the question: On the centre of excellence, who is it going to report to?
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Are you asking about the new centre of expertise for the salmon, the salmon strategy?
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
That will be run out of DFO, but it will be done in co-operation with the stakeholders working in this industry on the ground.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I have to say that there is suspicion on the coast that sometimes DFO isn't very forthcoming at passing information along to the minister. We certainly had suggestions in the salmon study earlier that certain information had not reached you, that it had been suppressed. That's a claim that was made. I am not asking you to confirm or not. I am just putting that on the table.
Can somebody—
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Can I also mention that there is also going to be an arm's-length advisory board at the centre of expertise as well? It will be made up of individuals both inside and outside of DFO.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I think it will be necessary to maintain very close contact with that board. I know you have an excellent parliamentary secretary who would love to be able to take that on. I would love for him to take that on.
I had asked this, but you didn't get a chance to answer—nobody did. What is the state of our salmon stock assessments? Do we have up-to-date assessments on all of our runs in B.C.?
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I am going to turn to my department on that one.
6:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Rebecca, perhaps you can take that one on.
6:05 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Thanks very much.
We have over 9,000 individual stocks in B.C. and the Yukon. We don't have stock assessment information for all of them. We do have a very comprehensive collection of stock assessments for the main runs. That information is used in evaluating fisheries every year.
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you for that.
Minister, you mentioned that there's going to be an aquaculture act. What are thinking about in terms of pulling that act together? What are the essential elements going to be in that act?
6:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
The work on the aquaculture act is already well under way. Of course, recognizing that aquaculture is governed differently on the west coast from the way it is governed on the east coast, we have to do this in collaboration with partners.
I think the whole focus of the act has to provide clarity to the industry. We recognize how important the aquaculture sector is. We know how important it is to jobs and to providing a food source. It's an extremely important industry. It is very different in Newfoundland and Labrador from what it is in British Columbia and in Prince Edward Island.
The aquaculture act will give us an ability to provide clarity to the industry with regard to sustainability and regulation and just make sure that everything is there, because aquaculture is not covered under the Fisheries Act as well as it should be.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
One thing that's come up quite often in our past studies, particularly on the west coast, has been the missed opportunity to engage indigenous people in on-the-ground guardian programs, etc., to keep on eye on things, report on things and even help with enforcement.
Do you see that as a key element, particularly as the strategy goes forward with this quite hefty investment in Pacific salmon?
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
With regard to the guardians program, I've been doing consultation under the blue economy strategy. I think I have probably done somewhere in the vicinity of 35 round tables. It comes up on a regular basis at almost every one of them about how important that program is, so I can see that being part of the path forward with regard to the blue economy.
We have also made some significant investments in indigenous communities with regard to the Coast Guard Auxiliary by providing boats for indigenous communities. I think there has been collaboration on the west coast with indigenous communities and the Coast Guard.
I think the guardians program is an amazing program that we really need to do more with—absolutely.
6:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Hardie.
We'll now go to Mr. Arnold for five minutes or less, please.
6:10 p.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Madam Minister, before I was cut off there—rightly so, I guess, by the chair, and right on time—I was speaking about the continuing salmon declines we've seen in my riding in the Adams River and how your actions and inactions have hurt British Columbians with the Discovery Island decision and the spot prawn decision, or reinterpretation. I was speaking about the public fishers who have been let down without an opportunity for a mark-selective fishery, the failure of your department to address pinnipeds in the Salish Sea and the Pacific—and the Atlantic, as far as that goes—as well as the failure to follow through on the mandate from your Prime Minister to provide funding for preventing aquatic invasive species in B.C.
How can you make these decisions that you've made without a scientific background to base these decisions on?