It is too bad we cannot have a more interactive debate. I feel like a dozen members are talking to me, all at the same time. But I am pleased to see, at such a late hour, so many Liberal members listening to us, which is seldom the case during the day. I see that you are agreeing with what I am saying, Mr. Speaker.
Indeed, what do we hear from the other side of the House except hubbub while we speak? It is silence, or almost. Nobody has anything to say for the moment. Where are the Liberal members representing those communities? What are they doing in practical terms to put pressure on their government after they went around during the election campaign, saying, “Elect us and you will see that we will get things moving”? Afterwards, they find themselves in their ridings justifying or defending the federal government. But here they do not rock the boat.
That issue is not a major issue in our area, but those who are raising the issue are the members from the Coalition and the Tories. Why are the Liberals saying nothing, or next to nothing, and why are they not very active? This is extremely disturbing.
Members of the Bloc Quebecois do not want to sit here for years and years, but I do not wish those who will be sitting in this House many years from now to have the same kind of debate we are having tonight. Mr. Speaker, I am convinced you will be in the chair for a very long time, and that you do not wish to have to preside over an emergency debate on the same subject matter four or five years from now.
One thing has struck me since I came here. I thought Canada was an important player internationally, but it is extremely disappointing to realize that its influence is very limited. Why is it that with this issue, we seem to be unable to take the leadership in order to find a solution? Why is it that fishers in Atlantic communities are once more in such a desperate situation that they have to beg the federal government to help, to take action and do something meaningful to bring about a settlement?
I made a comparison a little earlier. The same thing is happening with a lot of issues. Very often, the communities involved are rural communities. Right here, all we have is slick books and documents on the defence of rural life, but it does not mean much for the government.
In my own area, for example, during the election campaign over a year ago, a whole bunch of ministers came and visited us. We had never seen so many of them is such a short period of time. They kept telling us how important resource regions are. The Liberal candidate in the riding next to mine won the election, fortunately or unfortunately for him, by promising investments of $300 million in a resource region like Abitibi--Témiscamingue and northern Quebec. They have yet to materialize.
What promises were made to Atlantic communities and people who earn a living in the fisheries? What kind of expectations were created then and not met, so that people are is such a situation today?
The level of inactivity here is appalling when it comes to dealing with the problems of primary resource regions. The people across the way lecture the provinces that are having a hard time managing certain responsibilities. Let the federal government manage properly in its own jurisdictions before it tells the provinces what to do.
The fishery issue is a good example of the federal government's dismal failure. It has been a total fiasco from the beginning to the end. The situation might have been better many years ago, but since I have been here in parliament and since I have taken an interest in politics, the federal government's record on fisheries management has always been disastrous. We have seen it in Quebec in the Lower St. Lawrence, the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands.
At the time, the member for Bonaventure--Gaspé--Îles-de-la-Madeleine, who was doing a tremendous job on fisheries, had to fight constantly to ensure that the government would raise the issue and deal with it, a little. But now, his successor is nowhere to be seen. We never hear about him. I hope that the people from this region will soon realize the trickery or see that they were deluded into believing that a Liberal MP could help them to move this whole issue forward.
I see that I still have a little time and I have to admit that, with such a large audience, it is tempting to use all the time alloted.