Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of all Atlantic Canadian fishermen, plant workers and their families, and on behalf of those in Quebec and in the territory of Nunavut.
The recent auditor general's report on the failed DFO management policies when it comes to the shellfish industry in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Nunavut is one of the most damning reports ever on the policies of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The auditor general did great work. We in this party want to thank him very much for raising the red flag.
In 1992 devastation hit Newfoundland and many other parts of Atlantic Canada in terms of the groundfish collapse which has now been proven to be solely the responsibility of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Two levels of government mismanaged that fishery to the death knell of many people.
Unfortunately the auditor general says the exact same management policies that happened in the cod fish crisis is now happening in the shellfish industry. We just cannot allow this to happen. In committee report after committee report the facts are clear. We have studied this issue to death. The DFO cannot properly manage the shellfish industry of Atlantic Canada. It does not have the resources. It does not have the scientific people to do the job. It certainly does not allocate any money.
For example, the lobster industry is a $500 million industry in Atlantic Canada. It spent $330,000 a year on research. That is all it spent on this most important and crucial industry.
The DFO allowed the dragging of a brood stock of scallops in the Bay of Fundy. That was a nursery, for God's sake. It actually allowed a dragger to go through the Bay of Fundy and destroy an entire scallop industry.
The auditor general also pointed out that we have little or no at sea observer coverage on board ships within our own 200 mile limit. It even ignores the observer reports it gets.
In 1997 the Minister of Veterans Affairs who was then the minister of fisheries and oceans ignored the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization's scientific advice. We got this information from court transcripts of the Federal Court in Vancouver. He ignored the advice of the Nunavut wildlife branch. He ignored the advice of the fisheries resource conservation council. Most important, he ignored the advice of his own deputy minister and opened up the turbot fishery two months prior to the federal election. Those are the facts.
Now the auditor general has pointed out that the current minister ignores advice from his own department and ignores the advice from observer reports. We can only come to the conclusion that it is based on political favouritism. It is not issuing quotas or licences, for example, on sound biological or scientific evidence. What it is doing is basing it on political favouritism. It is the same thing that the Liberal government accused the Conservative government of doing.
Unfortunately the people of Atlantic Canada do not have that much time to wait. If the industry collapses, which I suspect it may under the current regime we have, we know very well there will not be a TAGS 3 program.
Where will the answers be from the government then? The auditor general has raised the red flag, has put up a precautionary note, and has given sound advice to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and to the government. We are asking on this side of the House that the government of the day, the department and the minister heed his advice very carefully, understand exactly what the problems are, and move forward in the new millennium.