Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me as the fisheries critic for the federal NDP to rise in the House to speak about a very important piece of legislation. We do support it although we would like to see accepted a few of the amendments being put forward to make the legislation even stronger.
I wish to thank the hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry for his expert legal opinion when he offered our committee help. He is a fine member of the Bloc Quebecois. His expertise in helping us draft some of the legislation was greatly appreciated.
There are also three other people I would like to acknowledge publicly who assisted me in deliberations over the bill: Professor Tony Charles of St. Mary's University; Professor Trevor Kenchington from Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia; and Mr. Sam Elsworth of the Sambro fisheries in Nova Scotia who is one of the finest experts when it comes to fisheries management and the international fisheries agreements of Canada.
A former prime minister, Mr. Trudeau, once said “The problem with fish is that they swim and that is the problem”. We need international agreements to control, conserve and protect fish stocks so that we can protect not only the thousands of jobs in coastal communities in our country but the millions of jobs in coastal communities around the world.
The member for Vancouver Quadra was correct when he said that the Law of the Sea Convention was enacted in 1982. We are now in 1999 and we have not ratified it. Canada has dragged its heels for 17 years. The reason is that they waited for me to be elected as a member of parliament. Now the legislation is before the House and I greatly appreciate the government and you, Mr. Speaker, for recognizing that very simple fact.
Bill C-27, the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, was part of an initiative in 1995 when the Estai ship from Spain caught headlines around the world. For the first time in a long time Canada got tough and shot at someone. We did not want to hurt anyone. We just wanted to scare them a bit. The former fisheries minister, the present Premier of Newfoundland, ordered it. He became known as Captain Canada and the hero of Canada. Everyone loved him.
What really happened with the Estai ship? The ship went back to Spain along with all the fish that had been caught. It cost the taxpayers of Newfoundland $110,000 to keep the crew in Newfoundland. I love Newfoundland as much as anyone else.
The eloquent speaker from St. John's will speak on this matter. He would love everyone to go to Newfoundland to visit his province. The only thing is that he will not pay for it. We did. We paid $110,000 through our taxes for the Spanish crew to stay in Newfoundland.
What resulted in the end? We now have Bill C-27, the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act. The parliamentary secretary from the beautiful area of Malpeque, P.E.I., stated quite clearly, although it is not written, that their intention is that Canadian fish caught by Canadian fishermen be processed in Canadian plants. My party and I have been saying that since we got here. As always, a good idea takes a long time before it sinks in. We hope Canadian fish will be caught by Canadian fishermen and women and processed by Canadian workers in Canadian plants.
One of my amendments to the bill will be that fisheries officers, when they realize there is an infraction in our seas, will have to ask permission from the foreign state in order to enact any kind of action.
My colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands was incorrect ever so slightly by saying we could not do anything. I know that if officers suspect a wrongdoing, they can board the ship. They have to notify the foreign nation of the action being taken. If I am correct, 72 hours notice is needed for the foreign nation to respond to Canada on exactly what action can or cannot be taken. That is an awfully long time for our peace officers, our coast guard officials or even our military people to be on board a foreign vessel. It is also not clear in the act whether that is 72 hour of business days. What happens on a weekend or a national holiday in the particular country?
My amendment of 48 hours simplifies it and makes it much more clear. It does not state whether it is over a weekend or on a business day. I think 48 hours is enough time to give any nation warning of what Canada plans to do when we suspect illegal fishing in our waters.
I am also glad to note that one of the amendments the parliamentary secretary will be bringing forth concerns stateless vessels. We are very concerned about what Spain, Iceland or any other nation has done when it comes into our waters, but what about those with flags of convenience or stateless vessels? I call them pirates. If I had my way I would not have missed the last time; I would have got them. Every time a foreign vessel comes into our water and takes away tonnes of our fish, they destroy the hopes, the lives and the aspirations of hardworking people in the country from coast to coast to coast.
It is sinful and it is a shame that we have become the laughing stock of the world when we sit back and ask what we can do now. These are Canadian resources and they should be controlled by Canadian management policies in agreement with other nations. I realize we just cannot arbitrarily do it when it comes to straddling stocks and stuff.
I will give the government credit. Effective today, it is starting to talk about it and starting to do it. The problem is that it took so long to get around to it. As I have already explained, I am here now and we will get this problem corrected.
I want to say something to the members of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans from all parties. I keep saying it is the best committee in the House because we try to work as co-operatively as possible. The member from the Gaspé area is a very constructive member of our committee, along with his colleague who also helped with drafting the amendments. They are very good amendments. We will be reviewing them and deciding in the future whether or not we will be supporting them. In essence, from what we have read up to now, we should have no problem supporting the majority of his amendments.
I look forward to a great Newfoundlander speaking about the problems of the fisheries. It should be a very interesting debate. Hopefully we can all learn something from this wonderful individual.