Mr. Speaker, the new fisheries act allows the minister to do an end run around recent decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The justices ruled that the right to sell fish can only be extended when it can be proved that the sale or barter of fish took place on a regular basis prior to European contact and was central to the band's life and culture.
The new act allows the minister to defy the Supreme Court of Canada and pull fish for his friends out of the Liberal pork barrel.
The new act allows the minister to continue racially divisive native only commercial fisheries in defiance of the Supreme Court of Canada.
The new act allows the minister to keep his pork barrel activities to himself, as he is not required to publish details of the agreements.
The new act removes the public right to fish, a right guaranteed in law since the signing of the Magna Carta. The public loses its right of access to fish. The minister gets the right to give fish to his Liberal friends and do it in secret.
This government is not only willing to defy the will of the people of British Columbia, it is also prepared-