Fisheries Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2026

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

There were no direct public funds transferred to the FFMC.

[Kaili Levesque]

It was capitalized in its origin, and it operates as a commercial Crown corporation. I'd have to do—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

It operated from its original capitalization.

[Kaili Levesque]

It is a self-sustaining financial Crown corporation.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

That's fine. Thanks. That is clear.

Could the department brief this committee on when the decision was made to look into divesting and what was driving that? Was it a lack of interest from stakeholders? What was it?

[Kaili Levesque]

As members mentioned previously, we were hearing directly from harvesters that the corporation was no longer meeting their needs, and as provinces withdrew from this market structure—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Was it the fish harvesters who were requesting the divestiture?

[Kaili Levesque]

It was the fishers and the provinces, looking at the changing marketplace in and of itself to have a sole responsible authority for that corporation.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

How was the changing marketplace impacting it?

[Kaili Levesque]

It went from the idea of creating.... You had an open market where the feeling was that fishers could achieve higher returns by selling on the open market versus going through the monopsonic structure of the FFMC.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Were they bound to go through the FFMC?

[Kaili Levesque]

Originally, as signatories were there, that was the prime vehicle for sales. There were other—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Then fishers were constrained by that organization. Maybe they could have received better returns for their product outside of it, but legally they could not. Is that what you're telling this committee?

[Kaili Levesque]

As the market conditions changed, fishers started looking at other opportunities that could be available and did not want to put their money into—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Is it fair to tell this committee that this corporation is no longer serving the best interests of fishers and that, in fact, it could be a negative for them? Am I assuming correctly?

[Kaili Levesque]

At this point, given that the provinces I mentioned have withdrawn, which represent the bulk of the inland fisheries in this country, and the economic—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

What were the provinces' reasons for withdrawing?

[Kaili Levesque]

The fishers preferred open market access and that—

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Did the provinces respond to the fishers' request?

[Kaili Levesque]

Removing their participation and leaving the FFMC enabled participation in the open market instead.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Okay. As a member of Parliament from the east coast, which is very different, this is news to me. We're debating a structure that the provinces no longer support and that fishers—from what I'm picking up from you—do not support as well, so they want it divested.

[Kaili Levesque]

Indeed. This is the result. We started the transformation exercise in 2017 after the withdrawal of Manitoba that year. In looking at the outcomes, recommendations were brought forward, and there were engagements directly with harvesters and with the provinces and territories.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

What assets would be available for disposal, in general terms?

[Kaili Levesque]

There is some processing capacity. I can't speak to the specifics because it is part of the divestiture piece. You can see in their corporate plans that there are a small number of assets, but it is more about marketing.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Is the department actually listening to the fishers involved and responding to their request?