Madam Speaker, as a Newfoundlander and Labradorian and as a Canadian, I am outraged at the antics of the Conservative government on the very important issue of the proposed amendments to NAFO.
The government says it wants to vet international agreements in the House, yet it has pulled every trick in the book to ensure that debate on the changes to NAFO do not get debated, discussed, questioned or reviewed. What kind of democracy do the Conservatives think we have? What is the government trying to hide?
On 14 separate occasions, the Liberals have demanded an open discussion in the House and the Conservatives have said no. In committee, the Liberals moved to defeat the proposed amendments only to have the NDP and the Conservatives in agreement to call more witnesses instead. Obviously, the NDP members have yet to make up their minds on all of this.
A distinguished group of former DFO senior executives with extensive experience took the unusual action of speaking out and calling the proposed Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization amendments tabled in the House by the Conservative government “a sell-out of Canadian interests”.
The government has a string of broken promises. Since forming government, the Prime Minister has broken promises to Canadians in several ways. No province is more aware of this than the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The government has demonstrated time and time again that it does not keep its promises to Canadians, whether it is not to raise taxes, not to run a deficit, on equalization, on 5 Wing Goose Bay, or to protect Canadian fisheries.
The proposed amendments to the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization are yet another example of the government's broken promises. It promised custodial management and strong action to protect the fish stocks off our coast, but instead it has tabled in the House a series of changes that, if ratified, would leave our country in a considerably weakened position. Yet again, with this broken promise, we see the good people of Newfoundland and Labrador being the victims of the government's inability to keep its commitments and to fulfill its promises.
Claims are being made by the Conservatives that the new NAFO convention rules will be beneficial. They have been contradicted time and time again by expert witnesses appearing in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
I cannot imagine the rationale for the Government of Canada committing to an agreement that gives foreign interests control of our own fish stocks, thereby undermining our sovereign rights by giving other nations the right to impose their management rules inside Canada's 200-mile limit.
These proposed amendments, if ratified, could be detrimental to the ability of Canada to protect and conserve its fishery resources and NAFO's ability to provide for conversion of the fish stocks of the Northwest Atlantic.
It is unimaginable that we would leave any of Canada's resources vulnerable to foreign interests. If Canada loses its ability to control what goes on in its own waters, we are indeed opening ourselves up for the “largest handover of Canadian sovereignty in history”, as one critic said in reviewing the situation.
Newfoundland and Labrador has been clear in its objections to the NAFO amendments. The municipalities of Newfoundland and Labrador unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to the proposed NAFO amendments at its recent conference.
I ask the parliamentary secretary, if the government has any understanding of the seriousness of this issue, why did it cut off debate today and at every opportunity raised by Liberal members in the House? The government and minister have refused to a full and open debate, and I ask him why? What is he hiding?