Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the parliamentary secretary for staying at this later hour and attending these proceedings. It is appreciated.
Commercial fishing and the fish processing sector are an economic engine not only in my riding, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, but also in neighbouring ridings.
The people in the coastal communities of the Gaspé in the Magdalen Islands make their living from fishing and have done so for hundreds of years. As a result of the policies on fleet separation and owner-operators, fishers in the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands continue to use their own fishing boats and have licences issued in their name. They can earn a living from fishing. They invest their profits in the coastal regions where they live.
These policies protect the fishery economy, which in return creates thousands of secondary jobs in the fisheries sector and in adjacent sectors within the region. The elimination of independent fishing would be harmful to the coastal communities of the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands, as well as to other adjacent ridings, and towns and villages that have existed for hundreds of years would be at risk of disappearing.
The Conservative government talks about “modernizing” the fisheries. It also talks about modernizing the Fisheries Act by revoking section 35. Apparently, this means getting rid of the independent fishing fleets and leaving the coastal fishery in the hands of large corporations. Indeed, the Conservative government plans to eliminate the policies on fleet separation and owner-operators to allow the large corporations—the processors and others—to take control of the coastal fishery on the east coast.
Many fisheries groups and associations in Atlantic Canada are opposed to these changes. These groups and associations represent fishers in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
Signatories from Quebec include the Alliance des pêcheurs professionnels du Québec, which includes the Association des pêcheurs propriétaires des Îles-de-la-Madeleine, the Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels du sud de la Gaspésie, the Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels de la Haute et de la Moyenne Côte-Nord and the Association des capitaines-propriétaires de la Gaspésie.
These groups of Atlantic fishers represent the vast majority of permit holders and crew members in Atlantic Canada's fishing industry. In 2010, fleets of Atlantic owner-operators harvested $1 billion worth of lobster, snow crab and shrimp, or 63% of the total value of fishing activity in Atlantic Canada for the same year.
By eliminating both the owner-operator and fleet separation policies, the Conservative government will be handing over almost $1 billion in economic spinoffs to major corporations, to the detriment of our coastal communities.
Why is the Conservative government turning its back on Canada's coastal communities?