Fisheries Committee on Dec. 14th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Mr. Small.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

I have a notice of motion as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Okay.

Madame Desbiens.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

We worked hard and I think we were looking forward to being here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I'm not getting interpretation.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

We have two motions to bring forward to the committee, Mr. Chair. We worked hard and we were looking forward to being here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Please continue, Mr. Perkins—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I'm done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You're done?

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

It's Mr. Hardie and then me, I think.

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Mr. Perkins has given his notices of motion.

Mr. Hardie, go ahead, please.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In the fifth report by this committee in the last Parliament, “Pacific Salmon: Ensuring the Long-Term Health of Wild Populations and Associated Fisheries”, recommendation number four stated:

That the Government of Canada, the Province of British Columbia and, where appropriate, First Nation communities review the state of flood control/mitigation systems along the lower Fraser River and their impact on wild salmon, and co-develop a program to update pumping stations and other components, as necessary, to remove risks to wild salmon runs.

There's a great deal of work under way in British Columbia right now to recover from the floods, and I would like to move that we commit to what would be probably just a short study, focusing on the opportunity we have to address those risks to wild salmon as we recover from the floods and rebuild the flood-control infrastructure in the lower Fraser Valley.

I would move that we dedicate no more than three meetings, with a report to go to Parliament.

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Okay, but this is a notice of motion, right?

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

It's a notice of motion, yes.

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you.

Mr. Zimmer.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Chair, and once again congratulations. It's good to see you in person. It's been virtually for so many months. It's good to be back, isn't it?

This is my notice of motion: That the committee undertake a study to examine the scope and effects of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) on Canada's fisheries resources and the degradation of those resources by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing;

That the committee receive witness testimony from the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the Minister of National Defence, officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Department of National Defence, and Canadians impacted by IUU fishing;

That the committee allot no fewer than eight two-hour meetings to receive said testimony;

That the committee also accept written briefs from individuals or organizations who wish to submit input; and

That the committee submit its findings with recommendations in a report to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Ken McDonald, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Zimmer.

Mr. Arnold.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Congratulations on your chairmanship of the committee. It has been good serving with you on this committee for the past almost six years now. We've done some good work, and I look forward to completing some further good work in this next session.

I have two notices of motions that I'd like to present today.

The first is:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study of at least two (2) meetings to understand the impact of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' re-interpretation of the Fisheries Act regulations affecting frozen-at-sea spot prawns; That the committee call witnesses including senior departmental officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and interested stakeholder groups to testify; That the committee adopt testimony received by the committee in its examination of this matter in the 2nd Session of the 43rd Parliament as evidence for the study; That the committee adopt the June 21, 2021 letter sent by the committee to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans as evidence for this study; and That the committee report its conclusions and recommendations to the House.

The second notice of motion is:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study of at least six (6) meetings to examine how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans develops scientific conclusions including advice that it provides to the minister and how the minister applies scientific advice to ministerial decisions; That the committee call witnesses including the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, senior department officials from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and persons who have directly contributed to the department's science and science processes to testify; and, That the committee report its conclusions and recommendations to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Arnold.

I'll now go to Mr. Small, but first I'll say that I'm glad to see another Newfoundlander and Labradorian here on the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

It was beginning to feel a bit lonely around the table.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

We also have an ex-pat, if I may say that. Are we allowed to say that here?

Ms. Barron has roots in St. John's.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Yes, we had a discussion yesterday.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Right on. Well, it's all out in the open now.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!