Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure to take part in this take note debate this evening on a topic that we spent some time on in the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. I have enjoyed the debate here this evening. We have heard many different opinions and different points of view come across. The minister has received lots of advice and lots of criticisms this evening but he fact remains that the decision the minister took in this situation was a decision taken with one goal in mind, and that was to help sustain the industry for the future. We must keep that in mind.
I have to question the motivation behind the advice the minister has received tonight from the member for Acadie—Bathurst and the member for Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte. I asked members what they would do if they were the minister. The answer given by the member for Acadie--Bathurst was that he would get the fishermen together with the scientists and put them on the same boat.
The minister consulted with the fishermen and took advice from the DFO scientists and made a decision taking into consideration that advice. The minister has listened to the fishery in the past. Last year she met with those people in fishery and talked about the need for a reduction in the TAC but they did not believe the science last year. They had difficulty with the science. The minister told them very clearly that she was prepared to make an exception but that if the science did not come back with a different position the following year, that she would have no choice but to implement that decision based on the science, and she did that. The industry was fully aware of the direction that the minister was planning to take.
Tonight I want to talk about the province of New Brunswick. It is a terrific place and I did have the pleasure at one time of being the minister responsible for agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture. The member for Acadie—Bathurst raised that point here this evening. When I was a minister at that time there was consultation with the federal level of government. I know there has been consultation this time with the federal and provincial ministers. Some of the indignation we have heard from the provincial government around the minister's decision has given me cause for concern.
The provincial minister even came to Ottawa with a delegation that included the premier to meet with the federal minister after the decision was taken. He sat in the meeting and participated in a discussion. Then he left that meeting and made comments to the media that were contrary to the discussion in which he had just participated. He spoke of the need for a compensation program but never raised the issue of compensation with the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
I would have to question the motivation here and the timing. It could be the fact that there is a provincial election coming this year and that this might be an issue that could be politically sensitive. It has been a politically sensitive issue in the past. The provincial minister came to a meeting and when he left the meeting he had a different message. What a shock. There has been a lot of discussion here tonight around what the federal government should do.
We all clearly understand why the decision was taken. It was to sustain the industry, to protect the biomass, to protect the resource. Nobody in the House is going to argue against those motives. Nobody will argue that.
The minister had to make a decision, and the minister made a decision. Now we have to live with the result. We have heard a lot of discussion tonight that the federal government needs to live up to its responsibilities. I talked a little earlier about my time in the provincial government. I know there are agreements in place between the federal and provincial governments that are designed specifically for situations like this. This is not a new challenge for the province of New Brunswick. This is not a new situation that we find ourselves in today.
We have heard people talk about this resource being very cyclical. We know that. We have found ourselves in this situation before. The provincial government found itself at the mercy, to be very frank, of the federal government. That is why these labour market development agreements were signed. That is why they were negotiated.