Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the first report in this Parliament of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans in relation to the Atlantic fisheries adjustment programs.
I want to thank all the individuals who have co-operated with us, most particularly members of the committee on the Liberal side, the official critic and the member from the Bloc Quebecois as well as members from the Reform Party.
I also want to thank the over 92 witnesses who participated, allowing us to come to some consensus on a number of issues relating to the tragic situation of the collapse of the Atlantic groundfishery.
Some of the technology that we used such as teleconferencing, which at first perhaps some, including myself, were a little leery of, has proven to be very beneficial in allowing Canadians access to their parliamentarians and to committees.
I hope that at least some of the recommendations in this committee report find their way into government policy.
This was broadcast live from coast to coast. The process we went through does show Canadians that Parliament can work better and that it can work without animosity and that partisanship can be put aside when we do the job. Our job obviously as members of this place is to represent to the best of our abilities the interests of the citizens of this country, no matter where they live and no matter the political stripe of the individuals who sit on a committee.
I also understand that we have some minority reports which will be appended to the document and there may be one of the members opposite who may wish to add a few words to the record.