Yes. I went to New Brunswick as well.
The point of the matter is not where I have been. That is not the important part. The communities that base their livelihood on fishing are important. If the government does not move to shut down foreign overfishing it will have a devastating impact. It already has. It should move ahead quickly.
I believe the government would find agreement from members on this side who applaud and appreciate movement on this issue. At the same time members of the opposition would hold the government accountable. They would not simply say that because we had this debate the issue is gone and has been dealt with.
Too many times in this place we have had debates in which we have raised important issues but have not seen any resolution, whether it be the ongoing softwood lumber issue, native issues, helicopter procurement or shipbuilding which also affects Atlantic Canada. We have brought forward an unending list of issues to this place.
The words have been said but the action by the government has not been implemented fully, the type of action that will lead to meaningful intervention on issues such as foreign overfishing. I can just imagine how tough it must be for the communities that see these trawlers cruise by their communities scooping up their fish when there is an international moratorium on codfish. How could that happen? How could that possibly continue to go on?
It is as if the government is saying to the residents of the communities affected by this issue that they do not really matter. If the government were to show by its actions that it cares and that this issue matters, it would act. It would do more than just allow for a debate in the House of Commons. It would do more than just take one action when the issue is raised in the media, alerted to the story by my friend from St. John's West, I might add. Perhaps we should call in the ethics counsellor. We have seen that kind of thing going on and how that has not solved problems either.
There is just simply a disbelief on this side of the House. The government can talk a good talk, allow for people to speak on the issue and at the end of the day just go home and think the job has been done.
We have raised the issue. We are doing our job. We are calling on the government to solve this problem with concrete action. The government is aware of it. It knows this is happening, so now it is faced with a choice. It can ignore the problem, hope it goes away, hope it subsides, that people do not come and knock on its doors for awhile, and that maybe this is an adequate enough safety valve release for people to be able to vent about the issue so that it calms people down for awhile.