moved that Bill C-62, an act respecting fisheries, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, in rising to lead off the debate on a completely contemporary and thoroughly new fisheries act, I cannot help but start by reflecting on how profoundly all Canadians have come to appreciate the importance of the issues facing our nation's fishing communities.
When I was first elected to the House of Commons eight years ago, those families who depended on the seas for their livelihood clearly understood the major challenges facing our stocks and fleets.
In just a few years, however, the challenges facing Canada's coastal communities have gripped the attention of citizens right across the country. Those of us who come from the communities that dot our coastlines are grateful for the empathy and the collective commitment shown by all Canadians in dealing firmly with foreign overfishing and to rebuilding an essential resource.
It is fair to say that as a nation we have come to realize the need for our fisheries to be economically viable, environmentally sustainable and efficiently managed. There is broad agreement on the outlines of what a viable, sustainable and efficiently managed fishery would look like.
It would include independent, professional owner-operators and employees, men and women who would make a good living year in and year out. It would include economically healthy communities along the country's coastlines. It would include a flexible, versatile and self-reliant industry, largely self-regulating and operating without subsidies.
These are the straightforward principles on which we must build a renewed fishery. These are the values that will allow our fishing communities to flourish in the next century.
This government has articulated its commitment to the pursuit of the economy, environmentalism and efficiency. This government has also pledged to carve out a role for constituents to have a greater say in the policies that affect them. These are in line with our red book objectives.
In proposing a modern fisheries act to Parliament, I would like to build upon these themes and this policy of participation by talking about the equality and the equally vital and related themes of freedom, flexibility, frugality and fairness.
Freedom for individuals and communities to have more say over decisions affecting their lives. Freedom for fishers to become the authors of their own destiny. Freedom from outdated regulations and from plain overregulation.
Flexibility through more self-regulation and local sanction guidelines. Flexibility to form new partnering agreements on research and on methods to achieve conservation objectives. Flexibility to use local knowledge and experience to address local problems. Flexibility through providing expert, local, administrative tribunals for the Atlantic and the Pacific fisheries.
Frugality by having the federal government focus on core responsibilities. Frugality through consolidation of statutes and through caution in setting fish harvesting levels. Frugality through the removal of overlap and duplication. Frugality by cutting cost and complexity.
Fairness in finding the balance between meeting the needs of our generation and the needs of future generations. Fairness in ensuring that everyone plays by the rules. Fairness through an open, decision making process. Fairness in ensuring that all stakeholders have a seat at the decision making table.
The new fisheries act will provide more freedom, offer more flexibility, emphasize more frugality and ensure more fairness. That is why the government is proposing this legislation.
The simple fact is that we have not had a comprehensive overhaul of the fisheries act since 1868 in the days of Queen Victoria. The world has changed dramatically since Canada was one year old.
In 1868 Canadians did not have to worry about the fisheries issues on the Grand Banks since my home province was not then a part of Confederation. Our ancestors did not have to consider the Pacific salmon fishery since British Columbia was not part of Canada in those days.
In 1996 we must adapt to the modern notions of citizens' rights and responsibilities. We must adapt to new wisdom about the importance of sustainable development and about the power of technology. We must adapt to the reality of linking the harvesting capacity to the resources available to be harvested. We must create ways to develop newly emerging species such as skate, monkfish and non-traditional crab species. We must meet the challenges of fiscal realities, federal, provincial and territorial realities and the reality that our natural resources are not inexhaustible as they once may have seemed.
We must create opportunities for tapping the knowledge and the skills and the hopes of all sectors of the Canadian fishing industry. We must guarantee that we will meet global challenges through the development of a professional fishery. We must guarantee that we will meet our stewardship responsibility through effective measures to protect fish habitat.
We must simplify, streamline and reinforce the Fisheries Act in order to sustain and strengthen coastal communities and build sustainable fisheries that will see us through this century and the ones to come.
The bill before the House of Commons proposes a new partnering approach to fisheries management, a new system of sanctions, a streamlining of regulations and rules, improved habitat protection and the creation of a single legislative framework for all fishing on coastal and adjacent waters.
I am particularly enthusiastic about this bill because it will allow the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, whomever he or she may be, to enter into legally binding, long term partnering agreements with commercial licence holders, aboriginal organizations, the recreational fishing sector and other organizations representing the voices of the Canadian fishing industry. Time and time again we have been told to get out of the day to day management of fisheries. Industries large and small have told us they do not need to be led by the hand and that they are ready, indeed eager to row their own boat.
We have listened and we are ready to put in place fisheries management agreements that will provide tangible benefits for the industry's men and women by sharing responsibility with them. The very people who are affected by fisheries and by the management decisions will have a direct say in making those decisions. The fact that these partnering agreements can be valid over the long term will enable fishers and their fishing communities to plan for and to achieve longer term stability. By establishing formal partnering agreements we create this stability.
We also create a level playing field in which everyone is aware of the rules which govern the management of the resource. At present there is far too much of a gold rush mentality in the fishing industry. When all members of a group are involved in making decisions they can stop the beggar thy neighbour mentality which sees people rushing to beat their competitors before a season ends or a quota is reached.
Right now the federal government is micro managing decisions that are best made locally. Clearly the Government of Canada must retain ultimate responsibility for conservation and the proper management of the resource base in so far as those matters affect the national interest, fiduciary rights, international obligation and the preservation of a biologically sustainable resource. We have retained this capacity, make no mistake.
Partnering is not about privatization. Rather it is an opportunity for representative organizations and the industry to have a direct voice in fisheries management, developing ways to manage the fishery more efficiently and providing a more stable climate for long term business planning. It is a process that is open to all sectors of the industry, be they rich or poor, large or small. Fisheries associations too may participate in these agreements where individual fishers are satisfied that they represent their interests.
Partnering will allow the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to concentrate its core responsibilities related to setting policies for fisheries conservation and protection of the resource. I do not pretend that partnering will end all the ups and downs of the fishing industry, but it will be able to ease some of the cyclical pressures. It can permit greater consistency of approach and greater consistency of income. The proof of course is in the pudding.
I am seeking authority from Parliament to enter into long term partnering because of the very real success we have achieved through the limited number of current, short term co-management agreements. These agreements are precursors to partnering. They are not the sweetheart secret deals that some of our friends in the House and elsewhere would make them out to be. They are voluntary public agreements open to all fishers who opt to enter into them in a specific area in relation to a particular stock of fish. In fact this legislation would allow a much more open process with input from a wide range of participants. Let me provide a few concrete examples of how I have seen a better process in effect.
In the snow crab fishery area in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, fishers have collectively and in a calculated and businesslike manner based on their own experience, judgment, expertise and local knowledge entered into a multi-year co-management agreement. As part of this agreement they have collectively consented to share access to the valuable resource with additional fishers. In short they have decided to become co-managers in setting conservation and management objectives and in sharing the results of those decisions.
Likewise on the Pacific coast fishers in the prawn trap fishery in British Columbia have collectively agreed to limit the number of traps used in their fishery. This decision was taken as a result of a marked increase in the number of traps being used and the recognition that this resulted in a market glut and declining prices while failing to meet conservation objectives.
It is this type of collective work and accountability that I want to build on. It is accountability based on an acknowledgement that
given the opportunity, fishers such as those in Nova Scotia and British Columbia will make good and responsible decisions.
Quite frankly though, short term projects do not give the long term assurances that are required for the sound investment of money, commitment to stewardship of the resource and the dedication to self-monitoring. That is why I encourage Parliament to establish the legal basis for long term partnering in passing this bill in due course.
Let me be clear that while partnering makes eminent sense, there is opposition out there. Some think that I am going to give away my constitutionally protected conservation authority. I can assure the House and anybody who wants to talk that way that I am not delegating my statutory responsibility to any private sector group.
The same principles of flexibility, freedom, frugality and fairness are the foundations of this act. Whether we are talking about sanctions to deal with illegal fishing, whether we are talking about tribunals to deal more expeditiously with problems that occur, whether we are talking about fisheries management orders, they are based on those principles.
As the House of Commons commences study on this bill, our challenge is to keep focused on securing an economically strong fishing industry, an ecologically sustainable fishery and an efficient and effective federal law.
As this bill goes through second reading and proceeds to study by the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, I hope hon. members will help me to make this an even stronger law. Members of the standing committee have made a commitment to give this bill the thorough review complete with the public hearings it deserves. I support them in that task and look forward to hearing their views and through them the views of the stakeholders and all those involved in the industry.
In bringing this bill to Parliament, the government has attempted to meet those ends based upon the shared Canadian values of freedom, flexibility, frugality and fairness. I look forward with all members of the House I am sure to moving this legislation forward guided by those very same principles that have always anchored our real success in Parliament and in our country.