Mr. Speaker, I will start by acknowledging that the government appears on target with its deficit reduction program, which simply goes to show that if we set the bar low enough we should at least be able to crawl over it.
The low targets set by the finance minister mean that our debt load is still increasing at a troubling rate. It will hit $602.7 billion or 74.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 1996-97. This federal debt is one of the main culprits responsible for our ever increasing tax bill.
To put it another way, the total tax bite has grown from 29.5 per cent of the gross domestic product in 1980 to 35.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 1994, a full 21.5 per cent increase. This growing tax bill directly impacts on our ability to maintain our commitments to Canadians.
In the last election Reform's zero in three budget proposal called for the tax back of pension benefits to seniors to kick in if total family income exceeded $54,000. For this we were accused of attacking the poor. In this budget some single seniors and couples with total incomes between $40,000 and $45,000 will receive lower benefits and all seniors with incomes above $45,000 will receive lower benefits. In my part of the world with its high cost of living, $45,000 is not a high family income.
The finance minister talked with some pride about cuts to department spending. Budget documents tell me that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans budget has been cut by about 20 per cent. A cut of 20 per cent may be reasonable. It may be the monetary target the minister is hoping to achieve, but is it allowing for the protection of the resource?
DFO bureaucrats, like all bureaucrats, will maintain the bureaucracy at all costs. All the fish can be gone, but the bureaucracy will remain to prepare for the fishery of the future, I suppose, or at least that seems to be the drill on the east coast.
Over the past 20 years we have witnessed a tremendous growth in the DFO bureaucracy on the west coast, while the number of staff who deal directly with fish and people have declined. Programs which impact fish have been cancelled.
In the estimates which were delivered today it shows fisheries operations 1995-96 to decreased from $422 million to $295 million. That is in large part where services are delivered, the account from which services are paid. At the same time corporate policy and program support, largely bureaucratic in nature, increases from $247 million to $273 million.
I have a letter from Don Roberts, chairman of the Nanaimo branch of the Pacific Trollers Association. Trollers are hook and line fishermen. They bring in a premium product from the high seas for which they can receive $4 and $5 a pound. The government has seen fit to take fish normally caught by trollers and give it to others who catch these fish in river fisheries and are lucky to get $1 a pound. But that is a story for another day.
Today Don's letter deals with the potential closure of the Nanaimo River salmon hatchery. I will read part of his letter. It states:
Today this hatchery produces 700,000 chinook fry, 450,000 coho fry and up to 1,000,000 chum fry annually. This is a far cry from the less than 100,000 chinook and coho produced when the hatchery opened its doors in 1979. The adult salmon from these releases form an important part of our local fisheries, as well as playing a major role in the rebuilding of seriously depleted lower Georgia Strait chinook stocks.
Several years ago the Pacific Salmon Commission identified lower Georgia Strait chinook as being a stock of extreme concern and made them a priority of the chinook rebuilding program embodied in the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The Nanaimo River, along with a few other systems, were recognized as major contributors to this stock and essential to the rebuilding program. As a result, the Nanaimo River hatchery received additional funding for hatchery expansion to accommodate a substantial increase in chinook production. Now that this capacity has been realized, it is shocking to discover that Nanaimo is one of the hatcheries being considered for closure to meet arbitrary budget cuts.
Mr. Roberts goes on and he notes that one of the strengths of the Nanaimo River hatchery as it is linked to the community:
Over the years DFO funding has been complemented by financial, material and sweat contributions from numerous sources. The hatchery has earned the respect and support of the central island area. Some of the hatchery supporters are the: Community Futures Development Corporation of Central Island, city of Nanaimo, Nanaimo Fish and Game Club, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Pacific Trollers Association, School District No. 68, United Fishermen and Allied Workers, Nanaimo Harbour Commission, Harmac Pacific, B.C. Federation of Wildlife, MacMillan Bloedel, Nanaimo First Nations, Nanaimo Kiwanis Club and Gulf Trollers Association.
These groups represent thousands of hours of volunteer labour. In reality, DFO merely provides the seed money which provides a focus for these community groups that have a keen interest in preserving B.C.'s fishery resource. The Nanaimo hatchery is not alone when it comes to attracting volunteers. This community's spirit is evident at most, if not all, hatchery sites in B.C.
There are other irresponsible cuts which save bureaucrats' jobs but threaten the fishery resource. The minister claims to have met his target but the result is the real job of the department is not getting done.
I have here enforcement reports from the department received under access to information which support my contention. Enforcement officers in the field want the job done but cannot do it due to the lack of resources and personnel.
Problem dated June 18, 1995 in the north coast division; staffing levels are at a critical level in the conservation and protection sector on the north coast. If we want to address enforcement programs on the north coast we need to address our staffing issues.
Problem dated June 1995 at the Somass River; DFO staff levels are too low to monitor the fishery. The real problem will be the outside catches. It will be totally unmonitored.
Problem dated March 4, 1996, Vancouver Island, a patrol ship's summary. August 26-29, complaints about sportees, staff unavailable. No patrols.
Problem at Terrace, B.C., incident report. A summary for Kitimat area dated December 15, 1995; for this timeframe activities were sporadic due to changing staff and new officers. The full time officer worked alone for the most part until his departure in early August. During this period boat patrols were few and far between, making DFO's presence almost non-existent.
Problem dated July 17, 1995, south coast division; numerous rumours of double limits being taken. Not investigated due to overtime constraints. Major closures throughout the Victoria field district. Cause for concern is lack of available officers and resulted in no shellfish patrols being conducted.
Problem dated August 28, 1995, south coast division; troller fishery largely unmonitored due to staff commitments in Area 20. Poaching on river systems not patrolled due to lack of staff.
Problem, Victoria district update, period ending September 4, 1995. No staff available to patrol Cowichan River, Gold Stream River and Sooke River.
I am all for slim government but I cannot support the mindless trashing of a department with a constitutionally mandated obligation to protect our fisheries resource. I cannot support mindless cuts to health care, education and social programs.
Departmental spending cuts are a necessary objective, but simply meeting the target is not enough. The government must ensure essential departmental objectives are not undermined by wrong headed cuts.