Debates of May 28th, 2009

Fisheries and Oceans--Main Estimates, 2009-10

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, of the $10 million announced on May 22 for the lobster crisis, how much is for Quebec?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, a pot of money will be come from the $1 billion community adjustment fund, which will be spent for the greater lobster marketing promotion program and will be done in co-operation with the Lobster Council.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, unfortunately, I have to ask my question again. Of the $10 million announced on May 22, how much will Quebec get?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, the Quebec lobster fishery will benefit from this marketing program the same as the greater lobster fishery.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, let us try another subject. I hope the answers will be a bit more specific. I want to turn now to the small craft harbour issue.

In the 2009-2010 budget, how much of the money for small craft harbours is for Quebec?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, for Quebec, the total is $6,384,000 under the economic action plan.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I want to get this straight. The figure I heard was $6.3 million. Some Conservative members came to my region recently to announce an additional $25 million over the next two years.

Has that $25 million suddenly disappeared?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

No, Mr. Chair, they have not disappeared. That was the additional funding under the economic action plan, $6.3 million for this year. That is in addition to the regular program, which is $8.8 million for this year. That is a little over $15 million for this year. Therefore, I can assume that $10 million would be in next year's budget.

However, I want to point out that the hon. member voted against this budget. That has taken $25 million from small craft harbours in his province.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, now that the minister seems to have found the right figures, I want to ask my question again.

What is the total budget in 2009-2010 for small craft harbours in Quebec?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, it will be over $15 million in repairs and upgrades to harbours. There are also $1 million for divestiture of small craft harbours that are no longer in use.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, the minister must have been reading my mind because I had a question on divestiture.

For the next two years, finishing in the current year, 2009-2010, an additional $5 million a year is earmarked for divestiture.

What total amount is planned for the divestiture program in 2009-2010 and how much will Quebec get?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, the shares of the divestiture are determined by where the small craft harbours are located that can be divested. In this fiscal year, we have $1 million in the fund for Quebec.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will let the minister answer a bit more specifically now on the divestiture program. In the case of the Grande-Vallée and Petite-Vallée divestitures, what does the minister intend to do over the next few months to settle these matters so that we can move on by the end of 2009 to other things and other issues for Grande-Vallée and Petite-Vallée?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, there is a process to go through with divesting small craft harbours. There are criteria around it. I do not have the details of those two harbours. I assume they are in the mix to be divested, but I will have to get those details and provide them to the hon. member.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thank the minister for the commitment to provide me with that information.

I would now like to hear what the minister has to say about another matter, the seal hunt. What is the department's budget for 2009-2010 for defence of seal hunting?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, the Department of International Trade will be working with the WTO trade challenge, so it would be its budget.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will try to get an answer another way.

Loyola Sullivan, Canada's ambassador for fisheries conservation, has a budget which, as far as I know, comes from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Since he is ambassador for fisheries conservation, he is surely not paid by another department. What is Mr. Sullivan's office budget?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, Ambassador Sullivan's budget is also within the Department of International Trade.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will continue with my questioning, not my torture, as I do not want to impose that on the minister. In fact, I think that this formula of quick questions and answers is easier and allows me to hit on a few more topics. I do not want to play that game.

As far as the seal hunt is concerned, what is the amount that has been invested by the Government of Canada in the European information campaign and what is the amount the Government of Canada has invested in the U.S. campaign?

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, we have spent a lot of time and resources on the seal hunt. A lot of what we have spent has been time with staff and the time of our fisheries ambassador. I could not put a price on that, but delegations have gone to Europe to make presentations, which all cost money. Senior DFO officials also went.

I led a ministerial delegation. Minister of International Trade and Minister of Foreign Affairs also contributed to taking action in reaching out to our counterparts in Europe.

We launched an advertising campaign that was published in government magazines. We partnered with the Government of Quebec to send copies of Phoques: le film to EU parliamentarians so they could educate themselves on the seal hunt. We sent letters to every member of the European parliament and included copies of ads that were published in local newspapers.

We had a very exhaustive campaign in the European Union, defending the seal hunt.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I thought the way the formula worked, if my question was 60 seconds long, the answer could not exceed 60 seconds. I think there may have been a moment of deviation from that, but it is no big deal.

Returning to the seal hunting issue, we have heard a lot about it in recent days, mainly thanks to the Governor General, whom I congratulate incidentally. I would like to know whether the minister has plans, in the next few weeks or by the end of the summer, to meet with all stakeholders in the seal hunt in order to re-address the matter so that there can be a true plan of action to deal with the present situation.

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, we are convening a meeting of the advisory board in the very near future.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, for the benefit of those watching us this evening, and I am sure there are a great many, I would like to know who will participate in the advisory committee and when the meeting will take place.

[Gail Shea, Conservative, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Chair, the advisory committee is made up of industry people and that meeting will be convened probably within the next month.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to come back to the lobster crisis. I would like to hear the minister's comments on the numbers, which are striking.

The carapace size of lobsters that can be caught varies from one province to the next. The minimum size is 70 mm in Prince Edward Island, 72 mm in New Brunswick and 82 mm in Quebec. That is where the conflict concerning the size lobsters comes from.

Does the minister believe it is normal that lobster is fished not only in different ways, but also with size restrictions that vary from one province to the next?