Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague from St. John's South—Mount Pearl for the incredible work that he has done on behalf of his constituents and the entire province.
I very much agree with the sentiments expressed by my friend from Prince George—Peace River about how the Prime Minister was dragged kicking and screaming to the realization he was going to be held to account not only on the offshore issue in Atlantic Canada, but on other issues. We saw similar revelations today where there was going to be some difficulty for him on the failure of his government to disclose documents to the Gomery commission. Then lo and behold, yet again on the first day of Parliament there was an agreement, an eleventh hour capitulation to provide those documents. It is a bit like an arsonist returning to the scene of the crime and asking if he can join the fire department to help put out the flames.
I want to turn to another issue with respect to the prebudget consultation, and that is the need to enhance our coastal security. My colleague has long been a defender of the need to bolster the Canadian Coast Guard, which has been cut to ribbons by the current Liberal government. It has been left totally emasculated in the government's efforts to try to enforce NAFTA rules and Canadian sovereignty in fact over the nose and tail of the Grand Banks. We have seen the decimation of the cod stocks and other species in our waters inside and outside the 200 mile limit.
Would my colleague care to comment and give some of his expertise, so to speak? Would he share with the House how the prebudget consultations could lead to greater resources for the Canadian Coast Guard and for greater security along our coastal shores? This is something that was alluded to by the Deputy Prime Minister, that there was an actual need, but again the question will be, is the government prepared to back up those commitments with the money?