Mr. Speaker, let me thank my colleague from St. John's East for sharing his time with me.
Let me also congratulate the member for Bonavista—Trinity—Conception for asking for and getting this emergency debate at a time when it is crucial to our colleague from Burin—St. George's who also spoke so well in the debate tonight.
Let me also point out that through the debate we have heard from every party in the House. We have heard from the governing party, which started off the debate this evening. We have heard from the official opposition, an Alliance member from British Columbia. We have heard from the Bloc, a member from Quebec. We have heard from the NDP, a member from Nova Scotia. Now we are back to a couple of Newfoundlanders again. Right across the country, across all political spectrums and from government to opposition, we have heard people talking in unison about a fishing industry that has been shut down by a minister without listening to people who could direct him as to how we could deal with a declining resource without having such a negative effect on the people directly and indirectly involved.
We talk about the people in Newfoundland being upset. It was referred to that some people even tore up or burned the Canadian flag, which is something that should never happen. It is not Canada we should be upset with. We should be upset with the present Government of Canada and in particular, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. On this very issue they are the ones, not the people of Canada, not the politicians of Canada, not even some of the politicians in the governing party, but it is the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the government who made the decision against the advice of everyone connected in any way to the fishery.
Five or six months ago, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans indicated in this very House that he would have to deal with declining stocks in Atlantic Canada. He basically raised an awareness and everyone in the area interested in or affected by the fishery took notice. Nobody blamed the minister for creating the awareness because the minister was not crying wolf. There is a serious situation in relation to groundfish in Atlantic Canada. There is a serious situation in relation to most of the fish stocks in Canada, whether they be in the Great Lakes, in western Canada or in the Atlantic region, because we have not been good stewards of our resource.
If I had more time tonight, I would love to talk about the other resources of our province, from our water power, to our minerals, to our forestry, to especially the biggest, richest fish resource that ever existed in the world which once swam off our coast. It has been pillaged and destroyed with a lot of people benefiting, the least of whom are the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians adjacent to the resource. And we wonder why Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are upset.
When the minister sent up his flares a few months ago, all parties in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, something that never happened before and might never happen again, got together to say “We have a major problem confronting our province and it is about time we put petty politics aside and dealt with it”.
This group, with the help of a lot of knowledgeable people within the industry, from the people in the boats, to the people in the plant, to the people in the science divisions, experienced individuals, unbiased, objective scientists, recommended ways of dealing with it. Make the best of a bad situation was what we had to do. The committee presented the minister with 19 solid recommendations which basically said not to close the fishery, that we have to make sure we keep the people involved.
Scientific advice, properly used and properly focused, would enable the minister to keep the fishery open to some extent. There are other avenues within the fishery. Tonight I do not agree with my colleague from St. John's East and I do not say that very often, but I am the eternal optimist. I think the minister has made a major mistake.
When the minister came to Newfoundland and Labrador and he closed the fishery completely, this is what he offered. He talked about community based economic development assistance, $25 million for short term job creation. That is less than one-tenth of 1% of the surplus in the EI fund. This is what we use to deal with a problem of this magnitude.
He talks about conservation measures, including the creation of seal exclusion zones. When I asked him yesterday how he will keep seals out of an area, he said he was going to ask them to stay away. St. Francis of Assisi should move over because we have a new person coming up. I will say to the minister that I hope it works. I also say to the minister that it did not go over very well in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The minister also talks about a $6 million program to expand on current activities, and to evaluate and assess the impact of seals on fish stocks. The investment in science will help us learn more about the relationship between seals and fish.
The minister does not have to spend $6 million to learn about the relationship between seals and fish. Morrissey Johnson once said that they do not eat turnips. Seals live in the ocean. They eat fish. With the imbalance that is there now, when we have a million seals, we have a biomass of cod that was 100 times greater than it is now. We are down to 1% of our biomass. As the member for Bonavista—Trinity—Conception so rightly said tonight, the seals have grown eight-fold. A person does not have to be a scientist to figure that one out and it does not take $6 million. Many people in Newfoundland would give the minister the answer on that one for a lot less than $6 million.
The other point I want to raise concerns the backgrounder because it circulated across Canada for people to read about why we closed the fishery. The minister talks about why the cod stocks have not recovered. He talks about changes in the environment. He talks about fish growth and survival. He talks about reproduction and he talks about Newfoundlanders not being good stewards in the past.
The minister does not talk about the effect of seals. He does not talk at all and never once mentioned foreign overfishing. Again he said that it might not affect the gulf. Perhaps it does not. It certainly affects 2J3KL.
The department must get its act together. The recommendations made by the all party committee, and made publicly and privately by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to him and by others across the country who are aware of this whole situation, show the minister clearly how the fishery can be kept open, and how people can be kept involved. There are other resources that can be reallocated. There are species that we have not had a chance to develop because we did not have the money.
If the government is willing to pay people to move rocks, why not pay them to do some scientific research and do some work on underutilized species or new species. Who will do the scientific research on seals? Who will ensure that we have seal exclusion zones? The fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador can do it.
Let me say to the minister who will probably speak soon that perhaps a lesson has been learned. Perhaps it can be seen from the reaction of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador against Canada. I say to my friends at home that it is not the Canadians who are doing this. It is a government. It is a minister of fisheries. Let us focus our attention on him.
If everybody else is wrong then there is something wrong with the system. My Johnny is the only one in step, but in this case the minister is out of step so perhaps he will listen, use the advice given him, and perhaps we can find the way to ensure we start rebuilding our resource. Yes, we have to be responsible, but surely we can do it collectively by keeping people involved instead of taking them out and letting everybody else destroy a resource.