Mr. Speaker, my four minute speech will not be a love in like the one we just heard. The House is now going to hear some real opposition.
The auditor general recently came out with his report. Chapter 4 discusses the incredible deficiencies within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Recently I asked a question of the minister and got an answer back from the parliamentary secretary regarding shrimp discarding or high-grading.
About a year ago in committee, the member for Labrador asked if there was massive high-grading of shrimp and discarding of small pieces of broken shrimp going on within our 200 mile limit off the coast of Labrador. A letter from industry addressed to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and copied for all members of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans stated that high-grading was extremely rare and does not happen as massively or as proportionately as the member for Labrador had indicated.
In a recent meeting we had with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans I asked if high-grading or discarding of shrimp happened within our 200 mile limit off the coast of Labrador? The answer was a very solid yes. The next question was how much of this was happening? The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans indicated that he did not know the answer.
It only leads us to believe that the member from Labrador, who is in the government's own party, was correct when he said there were very large amounts of high-grading and discarding of shrimp going on within the 200 mile limit. That begs the question: How can this happen?
The government has announced in its recent estimates for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans a further cut of 17%, totalling $54 million, to science and research over the next three years. This is at a time when the world is clamouring for more scientific information.
We just heard the parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture say that what we need is good science. The auditor general has indicated, and I hope he is listening, that 5,000 scientists have been cut from the federal service. These are up and coming scientists, scientists with basic knowledge and long term knowledge of the various industries.
The government talks about needing better science. We cannot have better science if it keeps laying them all off. There are two things we can do to scientists to ruin their careers: take away their funding and discredit their reports. That is what happens here all the time.
We recently had a concern about seals. There were two prominent scientists from Newfoundland, who indicated we have to have a seal cull and the other indicated we cannot have a seal cull.
If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is not the final source of good, solid, sound information, then where do the fishermen and their communities get this information from?
I am asking the parliamentary secretary to answer the following questions. How can the government justify a $54 million cut to science? What is the government doing about the high-grading of shrimp, that is the discarding of shrimp off our coastal waters? Will the government put science back into the information so that fishermen, plant workers, communities and the provinces can have sound, long term management plans for the fisheries off our east coast?