Mr. Speaker, last week the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans announced measures that will return over 500 frozen licences to groundfish fishermen who have demonstrated a long-term attachment to the industry. Over 200 of these restored licences belonged to fishermen in the province of Prince Edward Island.
This whole sorry mess was the result of an arbitrary decision by the previous "no-Tory-us" government. Sad to say it is only one of such messes in the fishery that we have inherited.
I want to commend the minister, not only for correcting this injustice but also for the establishment of a consultative process which in this case involved 11 different fishing organizations.
Even though it is a very difficult period in the Atlantic fishery, this type of co-operation between the minister and the stakeholders in the industry will go a long way toward alleviating pain and anguish while the industry is being restructured.
This new spirit of co-operation and negotiation bodes well both for redefining the concept of professional fishermen and for establishing the framework of the fishery of the future.
In conjunction with the sentiments expressed by the P.E.I. Fisherman's Association, I once again commend the minister for his work in resolving this situation.