Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.
All hon. members know the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has taken a lead role in conservation in the international community. When I was at the recent convention in St. Petersburg, many people came up to me and said they were glad we have a Minister of Fisheries and Oceans willing to take a lead role. He has put conservation on the front lines. He has put sustainability of fisheries on the front lines. He has made people all over the world aware of how important our fisheries are and how important it is to have a sustainable fishery and how important conservations is. The minister has taken a lead role in terms of assuring we as Canadians take a lead role.
If the hon. member would look at what happened in the United Nations on the convention on straddling stocks and migratory stocks, it was Canada that took the lead role. It was the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans who took the lead role to ensure that even
beyond the 200 mile zone we have a dispute mechanism system so the international community will respect our marine resources.
The minister has admitted we can do a better job. We can improve the way we are doing things. I talked about the 40,000 Canadians who are not working because of the collapse of the groundfish. We have to work harder. We have to ensure we do have a sustainable fishery. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has put that as his number one priority. He has taken the lead not only in Canada but he is known as someone who has taken the lead in the international community in ensuring we preserve our marine resources and that we have a sustainable fishery for future generations and that we preserve our coastal communities and their economies.
The bill will ensure that we look at our oceans on an ecosystem basis, not manage on a species basis. It ensures we take into consideration coastal communities and the economy. We have to treat our oceans as an asset. We have to ensure exploitation of those resources are done in a way that we have a sustainable fishery to protect our coastal communities and to ensure they have an ongoing fishery for the long term.
I assure the member the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will take a lead. I hope the hon. member will take the opportunity to study this bill. I know he will support it because of his concern that we have an ongoing sustainable fishery.
I assure the hon. member we will have strong enforcement. As he knows, we have increased the enforcement budget on the west coast to make sure all people comply with the Fisheries Act and we will make sure we take action when someone does not abide by the Fisheries Act.