Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here today.
First, I'll go to Mr. Kennedy.
I think we may have a different position on open-net farms. B.C. is the last place on the west coast of North America that has open-net Atlantic salmon farms. There have been dozens of studies showing the harms to wild Pacific salmon. A majority of British Columbians and over 120 first nations across B.C. support a transition away from open net-pen salmon farms.
However, I think we probably can agree that, in any transition, workers need to be supported, and there needs to be a comprehensive transition plan, a jobs plan. The government recently tabled the draft transition plan for moving away from open-net fish aquaculture in B.C. The draft plan was released seven weeks after their self-imposed deadline, and there was hardly any clear information on what the plan would actually look like.
Can you talk a little bit about what that actually means? What are the impacts of the lack of certainty on your transition planning? What are the impacts on communities? What happens when this uncertainty persists?