Madam Speaker, yes. First of all I would like to express my appreciation to the member for Delta for allowing me to speak first. I have a plane to catch shortly and I want to say a very few brief words on behalf of the New Democratic Party caucus.
First of all as the fisheries and oceans critic for the New Democratic Party I would like to inform the government that our caucus does support Bill C-29. I would also like to say that we do not just support the bill, we would also like to commend the government on the legislation tabled yesterday in the House of Commons. I would like to offer my personal congratulations to the minister for his very impassioned plea and his very articulate speech this afternoon in support of this bill and in defence of Canada and its responsibility to protect this very important national and renewable resource.
It is high time that the fragile straddling stocks, those species which swim inside and outside the 200-mile limit in the nose and tail area of the Grand Banks, are protected from foreign vessel overfishing.
The previous government under Brian Mulroney allowed this situation to go on for far too long without acting in the best interests of the fishery and the best interests of Canada. I am very pleased to see the Liberal government taking action to protect these endangered stocks which have been very significantly depleted over the years, in particular from so-called flag of convenience plundering. It is our hope the bill will ultimately help the fishery as well as the depleted stocks.
I have spoken with fishermen and other contacts in the eastern provinces. The general consensus is that people are very pleased to see this long overdue legislation. There is some concern however about whether the legislation goes far enough since there are foreign vessels fishing off the 200-mile limit under flags such as Spain and Portugal and not just flags of convenience.
My question to the minister during the course of the review would be will the government be able to deal with these vessels as well? My sense is that these sorts of restrictions will be imposed on members of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization. The minister has affirmed that this legislation will address this very important question to those people in Atlantic Canada.
Also I hope the government will back up this legislation with the resources necessary to enforce it, in particular by having enough personnel and equipment to monitor the situation on a regular full time basis.
Having just met with members of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union from the west coast of Canada, I am aware of the history of government mismanagement of the fisheries resource on the west coast by the previous government as well.
Besides concerns regarding stock management there is a burning concern, and I would even say a raging debate, regarding the Department of Fisheries and Oceans licensing policy as witnessed recently in the roe herring fishery. Corporate boat owners, or armchair fishermen as they are called, are being allowed to rent their licences to active fishermen who pay exorbitant prices to lease the licence for a specific fishery.
The Government of Canada has not officially recognized these rental practices but at the local level DFO officials sanction them. This is a very serious situation in licensing which is destructive to the fishery industry, not to mention the loss in revenue to the government from licensing.
The point is that I hope the government will not just stop here with Bill C-29. It is our hope in the New Democratic Party that the government will learn from this situation on the east coast and will not leave the situation on the west coast to deteriorate to the point at which it is beyond help.
We as New Democrats hope that the lesson in this terrible condition on the east coast will ensure that the west coast fishery is protected for future generations of Canadians. In summary, the New Democratic Party in the House of Commons supports this bill. We will facilitate its quick passage in this House.