Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for South Shore—St. Margaret's for his comments.
However, I find these comments problematic. The member says that the other government abandoned the fishery over the course of the past 13 years, and that his government is now inheriting the entire mess. People are living with docks in disrepair. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans made a presentation entitled “Small Craft Harbours” to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. The former government abandoned fishermen, even with surpluses every year. The Liberal member said that fortunately his party had erased the government's $46 billion deficit.
They did just that at the expense of the workers. There was a deficit of $46 billion but, to date, $49 billion has been taken from the unemployed. We know where the money came from. The new government was not elected to say that, since the other one did it, they will do the same thing.
Although the Conservatives have only a minority government, the presentation to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans indicates that the current budget of $86.6 million will be reduced by $20 million next year.
The hon. member is practically accusing the Liberal government of not doing its job. The government is supposed to do better because that is what it said it wanted to do. The Conservatives told Canadians that they wanted to be elected because they would do better. In the meantime, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans was told that the current budget of $86.6 million will be cut by $20 million next year. Nonetheless, the government has made an about face and is recommending $15 million. In my opinion, they are still $5 million short.
Furthermore, the chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, the hon. member for South Shore—St. Margaret's, said he will support that. Nonetheless, these are my concerns: will his government support that? Will it restore the $20 million? To my calculation, 20 million plus 15 million is 35 million, which is still not enough.
I think I spoke directly to the motion, even though the hon. member is trying to have us believe we do not talk about it. I know the hon. member well. When he was in the opposition that is what he would say.
Now he is in the government and he is trying to blame the former government, which I too am prepared to blame because it took $49 billion from the EI fund to balance the budget and maintain zero deficits. However, this new government now wants to take $20 million from the pockets of fishers and communities.
This is my question for the hon. member: what will his new government do? It is time to stop saying they inherited this or that from the former government. That is in the past. We are now June 5, 2006, and the Conservative government is in power. What will it do for fishers? Will it restore the $20 million and add the $15 million as recommended by the committee?