Madam Speaker, on February 6 I asked the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans a question with respect to Yves Fortier who had just quit as Canada's chief Pacific salmon negotiator.
This is an issue which I have been deeply concerned about. This government has had four years to deal with it. As I stand here in my place and speak today, we are worse off than we were on June 2 when I was elected. I will not say that it seemed to be the height of the crisis because I think it could get even worse, but it was a very tough and difficult time for us, as has been the last four years.
We are worse off today than we were before. At the present time we have no negotiators acting on Canada's behalf. We have heard the minister make statements in recent weeks that they are waiting for the United States to contact Canada to resume negotiations. I would suggest that we have had over four years now, a time of waiting, and we have to get on with it.
The reason I asked the question about Yves Fortier is that he was the one person whom British Columbia fishermen had confidence in and he was acting on their behalf. He has now left and it is arguable why he left. I would suggest he left because the government did not give him the backing he needed. He saw no way out of the dispute without a commitment from this government.
Will the minister tell British Columbia fishermen how they can expect to have any confidence in this government when our negotiator had none?
This is a very serious issue. At present we are only a few months away from the beginning of the next fishing season and we do not have anybody representing our issues. We are not even in discussions. We are not in negotiations. Nothing is happening. Zero. Four years of nothing and it is going downward.
This government has to get on with it. This is a very important issue. Again I ask the parliamentary secretary what his government's plans are. When is the government going to act? When can we expect negotiations to resume? Does the government anticipate having this matter resolved prior to the next fishing season?