-to have a good knowledge of Canada's ocean resources or a good knowledge of administrative decision making.
I even heard someone say: perhaps to be a card-carrying Liberal. Well, he might have to be a card-carrying member of some other party when the time comes, but we want is transparency.
I am not saying that people in the fisheries sector are incompetent, but I want the process to be transparent. I want fishermen and the people who make a living in this industry to be judged with a genuine traditional system. These are not second class citizens. They should not be judged by a second class court. And especially not by friends of the party who will have to do exactly what the minister asks them to do.
I may recall that three years is not a long time, so if you do not do the job, my boy, they will put someone else in your place who will do exactly what the minister wants him to do. That is how I interpret this part and that is how it is written.
To conclude on this issue, what the minister is proposing to us is a second-rate, parallel justice system. At the same time, he is sending real judges, who have completed law studies and know the system inside out, the message that they are doing a bad job. I am not convinced the minister is in a position to teach them lessons.
If the Minister of Justice thinks that judges and lawyers should be better informed, he should follow in Quebec's footsteps. When Quebec amended its civil code, it invited all the judges in the province to review the new parts of the civil code.
If the minister of fisheries thinks this is important, he should ask the Minister of Justice to establish a process to familiarize Canadian judges with the new fisheries act. I agree that the last one dates back 100 years.
The many points we raised show how important this is. Fishermen are not second-class citizens. They have the right to go to court, to benefit from a transparent, equal and equitable justice system across Canada.
What bothers me somewhat is the perception by departmental officials that fishermen are poachers. Fishermen are not poachers; their goal is to catch fish at the lowest possible cost while protecting the environment to ensure that this resource can be sustained.
Again, regarding departmental officials' notion that fishermen are poachers, who drafted the regulations? Who said that any cod measuring less than 16 inches should be thrown back into the water?
Fishermen cannot see the ocean floor, while the fish do not know that fishermen are prohibited from catching fish measuring less than 16 inches. So what should fishermen who inadvertently catch fish measuring less than 16 inches in their nets do? If they bring it back, they will become poachers and be fined by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. So what do they do? They throw the fish back into the water. But if they throw it back into the water and Fisheries and Oceans finds out, they are still poachers in the department's eyes.
How can we establish a system that will treat fishermen not as poachers but as people trying to catch fish in a cost-effective way while protecting the environment so they can continue fishing year after year?
This may be a different subject, but let me tell you that, as far as I can see, the tribunals certainly do not look like they will be fair and impartial, given that they will be the ones making the regulations, and I am not always sure that the people who work there use their heads to make them.
My point, and perhaps some people will have a hard time following, but what we must realize is that, as I said earlier, the main problem with fishery at present is the need for a constant relationship, the same tool box, so that all the fish caught by the fishermen, and hopefully only the most mature fish will be caught, all this fish can be sold. But we have just changed jurisdiction here. Because dead fish is a matter of provincial jurisdiction. Could we not focus on seeing how fisheries will be commercialized, by providing the fishing industry with the tools it needs to avoid making blunders like forcing fishermen to throw their catch back in the water?
We should work toward giving them the necessary tools. And if the federal government does not have the authority required, it should refer the matter to the provinces, because they are the ones licensing fish processing plants, guaranteeing boat loans and, in some cases, helping fund the construction of processing plants.
What is left for the federal government to be responsible for? Issuing fishing licences.
As for conservation, I think that it is clear to everyone that stocks overlap. We are prepared to share and to live with a central player in the form of Fisheries and Oceans.
But for the province of Quebec or for Newfoundland, working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to conserve the resource or working with NAFO, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, boils down to the same thing. But what is better about NAFO's rules is that they are respected by Canada and by all other countries in the world, as well as in the provinces because Canada is a member country. It would not be a heck of a lot harder, and in fact would be that much easier, to get along in this respect.
I will therefore wrap up before I run out of time. I would like to remind viewers that the Bloc Quebecois will be voting against the bill. I am nonetheless pleased to take part in discussions about a bill that I described as the bill of the century, but I am saddened because it is badly put together.
In review, there are three major reasons the Bloc Quebecois will be voting against the bill at second reading. The first is that the minister determines who may enter into management agreements. This prevents fishermen from knowing all the players.
The second irritant, still in part I, concerns the delegation of authority. In my view, the delegation of authority set out in clause 9 is inadequate, as well as contradictory.
The third point concerns the Fisheries Tribunal. I would call it a front. It resolves nothing. The minister will sort things out quietly himself behind the scenes.
At the start of my speech, I also criticized what I would call the minister's lack of interest. And yet, at the same time, it is as though he wants to ram the bill through. The best he could manage was a 15 minute speech yesterday in the House to launch the fisheries bill of the century. In my view, this is a lack of respect for the fishery and for the Canadian people. I think it is simply lacking in respect to ram through in 15 minutes a bill that will not come up for review for perhaps another 100 years. I hope to be able to meet with him again to discuss this subject, because I am not certain that Quebecers and Canadians will share his sentiments, in light of the introduction he gave the bill.