House of Commons Hansard #120 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was chair.

Topics

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:10 p.m.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:15 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

I believe that the parliamentary secretary for official languages was right: I am having trouble talking.

The member for New Westminster—Coquitlam voted to let me speak, and I thank him. Furthermore, I would like to congratulate him for coming to our area to talk to the people. It is important for the people to see the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans travelling to the regions. We sometimes live in a bubble here.

Sometimes, the problem is that the Fisheries and Oceans people also live in a bubble. That is one of the problems. Sometimes, the Fisheries and Oceans people do not understand the situation. They do not want to work with the fishermen. That is one of the report's recommendations. The fishermen are asking the Fisheries and Oceans people to come and work with them to find solutions.

The same thing happened with the cod fishery and the groundfish fishery. The fishermen are asking that they be allowed to catch their 20,000 pounds and that they work with the biologists, experts and people who know all about the fishery. These are experienced fishermen. We should put the groups together and let them work together. I can see in the report that this is what the fishermen are asking for.

When we look at this report, that is what the fishermen are saying. They want to work together, to work with the biologists and to work with the fisheries department. They want to be together in this, to be able to do something in the fisheries. They do not want to lose their bread and butter. They want to be able to continue fishing. They do not want to abuse the fishery, taking everything.

Here we are in 2012. The time of abuse is over. The fishermen want to work with the communities. They want to work together. That is what it is saying in this report, “Let us work together. Let us do something together.”

I hope the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans hears this and will do exactly that, and that he looks at the recommendations. It is nice to make recommendations, but it does not do any good if they are not acted upon. If he agrees with the recommendations, then the department should act on the report and meet with the fishing communities immediately.

That is what this report says. It is so important to all the fishermen of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec.

It is important to all of these people to work together for the future rather than have the Department of Fisheries and Oceans fighting with fishermen all the time. That is not what is needed. What is needed is co-operation among these groups. The government's job is to get these people to the table to ensure the future of the fishery and fish stocks. They have to do it together rather than fight with the fishermen. My colleague mentioned that there were 11 recommendations and that they were all very important.

The fishery is important to us. It is sad to hear the government talk as though people in the Atlantic provinces are a bunch of lazy nogoodniks who want to take advantage of employment insurance. I would like to know where the Conservatives would get their lobster and their cod without an Atlantic fishery or a Pacific fishery in the west. I do not know where they would get their tasty lobster and their shrimp.

These are seasonal jobs. The fishing industry deserves respect. Not just anyone can go out and get that kind of food. You cannot get it in Toronto. You cannot fish for cod on Yonge Street in Toronto. You cannot catch lobster on Sainte-Catherine in Montreal. You can catch it in Chaleur Bay, which freezes in winter. Our fishermen deserve a lot of respect.

That is why it is such a shame that the government came up with its 421-page budget bill.

That is why, since all of our problems are being stuffed into one bill, I move, seconded by the member for Trinity—Spadina:

That the House do now adjourn.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those opposed will please say nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

In my opinion the nays have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

(The House divided on the motion, which was negatived on the following division:)

Vote #189

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

I declare the motion defeated.

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Alfred-Pellan, Citizenship and Immigration; the hon. member for Scarborough Southwest, Employment; the hon. member for Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, Health.

Questions and comments, the hon. member for New Westminster—Coquitlam.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's comments about the snow crab and its importance to the Atlantic and Quebec regions.

When I was on the fisheries committee, which produced this report and these recommendations, I had the opportunity to visit different communities in Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. I know my colleague was talking about the impact the science of biomass had on local fishermen in his community and his riding.

Could my colleague perhaps give his comments about the decision the minister made in 2010, which was to make a 63% cut to the quota, and the impact it had on the fishermen in his community? Could he comment about how that could have been prevented or what information is needed in order to prevent those kinds of decisions from happening in the future?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question.

The impact was not only on fishermen; it was also felt by fish plant workers. A fish plant worker had only about four weeks of work. For the men and women working there, it was their livelihood. That is what really hurt the crab fishing industry.

At the same time, we have to look at how it could have been resolved. The department should have listened to the fishermen. I was speaking to some expert fishermen who had fished for many years, 20 to 30 years, and they knew what the Department of Fisheries was doing was wrong in closing it down to the amount of 8,000 to 9,000 metric tonnes.

The reason for that reduction was based on how one does the tests. Fishermen were telling the department that, but the department would not listen to them. Let us just imagine this: people would take their boats and nets and go out on the water to do the tests. It is not the same thing as looking in the cages themselves, where fishermen catch the crab. They would just take their boats and put their nets in the water, and after that they would pull their nets out to see if there were any crab in the sea.

The department official, who had no experience, would stop his boat, and the crabs were falling out of the net. When he pulled it out, there were no crab. Then the government decided to close it down. Fishermen were telling the minister and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans it was the wrong way to do it.

What did the Department of Fisheries and Oceans do? It completely refused to listen. This is what the fishermen are saying: “Listen to us”—

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Questions and comments, the hon. member for Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

Liberal

Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask a question to the hon. member regarding the crab situation.

Over the past several years, we have had a drastic reduction in a vital area of the crab fishery known as 3K. In that area, science has given us what we feel is not a substantial amount of information, yet drastic decisions were taken based on very small amount of science in the 3K area I talked about, and in several other areas on the east coast of this country.

I was wondering if the hon. member could comment. The way we are heading in terms of science and research is that we are basing it over a longer period of time, and it is not only that: the money is just not available.

How can we focus and get the government to say that more importance needs to be given to this particular situation on the east coast, especially when it comes to the snow crab species?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Mr. Speaker, I believe that is the way to do it. Fishermen are saying the same thing: put more money into it. After all, fishing is the livelihood of the Atlantic, part of Quebec and the Magdalen Islands. It is the livelihood of the men and women working in fish plants and everything.

The government just washed its hands. It said it is not going to put any money in it anymore. It should tell the scientists to be with the fishermen and work with them, and not just ignore them and come out with reports that fishermen do not agree with. They should work together with fishermen.

That is what we have suggested to the department and to the minister. The minister has closed his eyes to it. That is why we are in this mess today. These fishermen are so upset over it because they feel they are not part of the decision-making process, and they have experience.

I heard this from an engineer working in a mine: “I am an engineer. I went to university for eight years, but the miners worked in the mines for 30 years. Putting those two together makes 38 years.” The same should be done with the fishermen: put them together to work together.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre Saskatchewan

Conservative

Tom Lukiwski ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That the debate be now adjourned.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

All those opposed will please say nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

Committees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

5:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

Call in the members.

During the ringing of the bells: