Mr. Speaker, after listening to several speakers from the Bloc, I have to say a few words about the inaccurate assessment of the second reading of this bill given by some of the opposition members.
Second reading is about the principle of the bill. What is the principle of this bill? The principle is a particular type of conservation, marine conservation.
If I went to the Iles-de-la-Madeleine and asked fishermen what was the most important thing affecting their livelihood, they would say marine conservation. In what area were the greatest errors made by the federal government over the years? It was in the area of marine conservation.
If I went down to the Gaspé and talked to the people there they would say the same thing. If I went up to Blanc-Sablon and talked to the people there they would say the same thing.
Why am I able to say that? I was part of a committee that travelled in the past year and held public hearings. We had group after group telling us that the greatest disaster in their lives was created by policies of the federal government in the past that destroyed their livelihood. They were very specific.
The hon. member for Drummond stood in her place a moment ago and made a sarcastic reference to the fact that the Prime Minister was concerned about the marine resources from the land right out to 200 miles. Let me correct her. The Prime Minister is concerned about the resources that go right out to the end of the continental shelf, not just 200 miles but 350 miles.
I will tell this House why. Go to the Quebec north shore and ask the fishermen there what happened to their mackerel. It is the greatest spawning ground in the world for mackerel, as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the hon. member who represents Iles-de-la-Madeleine know, because they are very knowledgeable in the fishery. The greatest spawning ground for mackerel is the coast of Quebec.
What happened to that resource? In the 1980s licences were given. To whom? To Norway, Sweden and some other European countries. It was to block the spawning run where the mackerel were headed to the coast of Quebec to spawn in late May. That was poor fisheries management on the part of the Tory government of the day. It was the most outrageous thing that destroyed the spawning ground of the mackerel. In one year there were seven Norwegian vessels right between Sydney Bight and Port-aux-Basques. The next year there were nine and the year after there were eleven. Why? It was because of poor fisheries management of non-conservation of our marine resource.
If we asked the fishermen what perhaps was the second worst policy of the government of Canada then, they would refer, as the parliamentary secretary knows, to the policies of former governments on squid where unfortunately squid cannot get to the Quebec coast if blocked by foreign nations off the coast of Nova Scotia. Why? Because of poor management of our marine resource. If we ask fishermen on the coast of Quebec what is the third worst marine conservation measure ever taken by the government of Canada in the past, they would say the policy on capelin. Why? Because that is perhaps the most important food of salmon that go up the rivers in Quebec and other provinces. It is the food of northern cod and turbot that the people in Quebec need as fishermen.