Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member for Gaspé. He is a member of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. I certainly appreciate his participation on that committee over the last couple of years as he brings a valuable perspective to the committee. I sense the depth of frustration on the part of the member for Gaspé and many people from his province of Quebec. I addressed that issue in my earlier remarks when we were talking about the first grouping of amendments.
It is past time the federal government got out of many areas that it currently has jurisdiction in, or that it asserts it has jurisdiction in, and allow the provinces and in some cases the municipal governments to make decisions more in keeping with the desires of the people who have to live with the results of those decisions.
We have a situation in British Columbia where the Government of Canada is making a major decision with respect to the fishery resource on the coast. It is a decision that only the people of British Columbia will have to live with. That decision is to include an aboriginal fishery component in land claims in British Columbia in modern treaties.
That is something that politicians from Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia will not have to live with but they are certainly very much involved in the decision making process. I sense the frustration of the member for Gaspé. As a citizen from British Columbia and knowing the depth of feeling on that issue in British Columbia, I understand the member's frustration.
However, in looking at the oceans act it is clear there are times when there is a proper role for the federal government to play that goes beyond municipal and provincial jurisdictions. In the case of oceans it is clearly the responsibility of the federal government, particularly when it comes to issues such as straddling stocks, migratory wildlife and fish stocks. It has a role to play.
I do not see how it is possible for the provincial governments to be making decisions with respect to those areas in the present circumstances. The federal government has a very serious obligation to consult with the provinces. It is federal decisions that often cause provincial governments a great deal of pain, particularly economic pain.
If members do not believe that, look at the groundfishery in Newfoundland and the collapse of that. It was managed right into the ground by the federal government. It created all kinds of impetus for investment into the groundfishery by providing grants and subsidies to fish packing plants and the construction of fishing boats and encouraged everybody and their dog to get out their fish those fish, and they did. Guess what? The fish are gone and guess who is paying the bill? In part it is the province. The province ends up with a great deal of the economic pain created as a result of federal mismanagement. The provinces have a right to be consulted.
I have some difficulty with the way these amendments are worded. We will be again moving amendments to Motions Nos. 48 and 90.
I move:
That Motion No. 48 be amended by deleting the following: "-the Provinces and-" and "-may consult with others-"
I move:
That Motion No. 90 be amended by substituting the word "requirements" with the word "guidelines".