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.