Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to ask my hon. colleague a question. I would have liked to ask the previous speaker a question but I will focus on him.
He sat through all the hearings on NAFO and I asked this question of every single witness who appeared, Is this custodial management? In testimony after testimony everyone said that no, this is not custodial management. The only two people who think this is custodial management is the current minister and the former minister. Even their own senator does not think this is custodial management.
I have two questions for the member. Does he honestly and truly believe this represents custodial management or was his leader right when he said,“We will give coastal states, particularly Newfoundland and Labrador, an increased role in the management of the fishery”. It sounds great. “Early in our mandate, we will seek to include a bilateral agreement with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for this purpose”. It sounds great. “We will make moves to extend the 200-mile limit to the edge of the continental shelf, the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap in the north Atlantic, and to assert Canadian custodial management over this area”.
Who said that? It was the Prime Minister. It sounds like custodial management, but the government has not delivered on it. How does the member feel about that?