If I were the deputy minister today, I would say, “Minister, you need to meet with industry. They've put forward a concrete plan to improve the safety, traceability and overall conditions of the fishery. You need to do that within the next two weeks, because the fishery can still be saved. We can still save 1,100 jobs.”
We have legal opinions. We have concrete ways DFO can use their rules and their set of already existing regulations to save this fishery. They don't need new regulations. They just need to enforce the regulations they already have.
Anything else from the minister's office is misdirection. She's refused to meet with us. The deputy met with us in January before this decision to close. We got half an hour of her time. She showed up 10 minutes late and cut us off at the stroke of the hour. First nations have not been consulted. Industry has not been consulted. She just has to listen.
I would like to be the deputy minister for a day, if I could.