Fisheries Committee on March 23rd, 2026

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Garrah, we've talked a lot about cutbacks and so on. I wonder if you can talk about efficiencies in merging certain programs.

[Joanne Garrah]

Are there any specific programs you're referring to, or is it just more generally within the science program?

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

It's more generally within the science program.

[Joanne Garrah]

We didn't do a lot in terms of merging of programs within science. What we did do is look at opportunities to wind down activities if we didn't feel that a program was achieving its objective, if it had achieved its objective or if there were other data sources available for it.

We looked at opportunities to realign staff to key priorities. There were some circumstances in which staff were working on certain activities, and we repositioned those resources to focus on other activities. That was the primary area of focus, rather than specific merging of programs.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I'll take this last minute.

The DFO has cited conservation as a basis for recreational fisheries restrictions, particularly where Fraser 5-2 chinook are concerned. At the same time, we're seeing significant reductions in funding for the west coast salmon program, including habitat restoration.

Given the Science Advisory Report 2025/016 and the continued importance of Fraser spring and summer 5-2 chinook as prey for southern resident killer whales, how does the department justify reducing the conservation-related funding, while continuing to rely on conservation concerns to support fisheries restrictions?

[Niall O'Dea]

I would underline that, as previously mentioned, there is funding reflected in the mains. For certain temporary programs there may be future funding decisions to come that will be reflected in supplementary estimates and otherwise.

The measures to protect and conserve Pacific salmon remain a very fundamental priority of the department. As colleagues around this table will recall, historic investments have been made over the past five years in restoring Pacific salmon populations across the Pacific coast.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much. I hope to see those continued as many of those are sunsetting.

To wrap up, we'll go to Mrs. Gill for two and a half minutes.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not used to the way this committee works, so I was a bit surprised. Nevertheless, I'm very glad to have another turn, since I had four other questions I wouldn't have been able to ask on another topic.

First, I want to talk about the Quebec fisheries fund. Obviously, my colleague Alexis Deschênes thanked the minister for renewing the fund. However, we still have questions about the indicators used to calculate the amount or, rather, percentage. We estimated that it was about 10% for Quebec. Are the indicators the same everywhere? What are they? That's one of our questions.

The minister also talked about the Seafood Expo, in Boston. She talked about the Americans and the need to innovate and diversify. That makes us wonder whether the fisheries fund shouldn't be topped up to reflect that. I'm not saying we can't use the fund to innovate as it is, but it seemed to be a really important issue and many of our colleagues talked about it in Boston. The Americans said it, the tariff situation isn't over. We need to plan for that, and I think this would also be an opportunity.

In addition, depending on the indicators you use, given the size of Quebec's fishery revenue-wise, is that something worth factoring into the percentage of the fisheries fund for Quebec? I'm asking. If so, the exact numbers would need to be examined.

That's all. It's actually three questions that overlap. If you run out of time for your answer, I'd appreciate it if you would get back to us in writing.

[Niall O'Dea]

Thank you for your questions. I'll do my best to answer.

Regarding the fisheries fund, we are very glad that it was renewed. I know the minister and her counterpart Mr. Martel had a chance to discuss it when they were in Boston. The investment in the fund is shared, so of course, the ministers have discussions amongst themselves to determine the amounts. That said, we absolutely recognize the value of Quebec's industry.

As for innovation, the idea behind the fund is definitely to support innovation, especially if it opens up international markets, not just products for export, but also products for domestic consumption that align with the interests of consumers here in the country. Against that backdrop, there's no doubt that Quebec's fisheries are promoted. The innovative spirit of Quebec's fish harvesters and processors is clear. I think there's a great opportunity to support their industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you, Mrs. Gill.

That's all the time we have for our second panel.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here and answering our questions.

At this point, we are going to dismiss our officials so that we can take care of voting on the main estimates.

Colleagues, does the committee wish to vote on the main estimates now? We just need to go through them very quickly. In all, there are three votes in the main estimates. Unless anyone objects, I'm going to seek unanimous consent to group them together for a decision.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay. We're going to vote on the main estimates.

DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES AND OCEANS

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$1,129,592,734

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$312,651,586

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$328,496,761

(Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division)

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Shall I report the main estimates to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay.

Lastly, before we wrap up here, you've all received a proposed budget for today's meeting. Is it the will of the committee to adopt it?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, when we'll be starting our study on recreational and traditional fishing for softshell clam.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.