Thank you, Chair.
A lot of this I agree with. It's been ignored for too long, but there are a couple of areas on which I'm not sure this current minister could speak regarding the decision of a former minister. I would like to see whether this agreement is real or not real. It is an alleged agreement. I would like to see if it actually exists. Who do we address for that?
The other part that keeps getting swept under the rug here, Mr. Chair, with respect to cash and illegal activity is the regulatory role of the provinces that license buyers and processors. It's very difficult to have cash or illegal activity if the buyer is actually following the rules regarding who they should be buying from. They should be buying from authorized licensed fisheries who attach a slip, and everybody knows the process. Perhaps we can weave that into Mr. Perkins' motion. There's a lot of good in here. I think we do have to examine it. We have in this committee, ad nauseam, referenced the cash, illegal and unreported activity going on. We've had excellent witness testimony on a number of areas. On all of that I agree with where Mr. Perkins is going, but there are two parts to it.
I'm not sure the current minister would be the person to speak to on a decision that was made a couple of years ago. The other part is that, as it relates to that, I would want to extend an invitation to the relevant ministry of the Government of Nova Scotia, so that this committee could ask what they're doing to control this within their scope of legislative authority, which is on the shore. Most of the illegal activity we're referring to here does not occur on the water but rather when the product comes ashore and is then sold and moved into the marketplace in an illegal, unauthorized and unlicensed form. That's what we're getting to here.
There are two components. The federal government regulates the fishery on the water by and large, but as it relates to the buyer and to the processor, it is the province. We heard that here as well. I agree with where you're going, but I would like to have before this committee all of the relevant jurisdictions that have authority to find out what they're doing to regulate here.