Mr. Speaker, from the comments I have heard in my riding, certainly the cuts made by the Harper government were not supported. One of our campaign promises was to look at the Fisheries Act. Recently I have been blessed with a new granddaughter and I believe that there has to be a balance between the environment and the economy, and also working closely with stakeholders. I can say that I am very proud of so many of the fisheries groups in New Brunswick Southwest and elsewhere that do so much work on their own to maintain and respect the long-term resource of our marine protected areas.
I would also like to comment on the North Atlantic right whale in terms of a balance. Clearly, after the 17 deaths that we saw in 2017, there is an imbalance there. Canadians from coast to coast to coast and citizens around the world are looking for us to show leadership on the prevention and the protection and recovery of North Atlantic right whales. That is a balance and is something that we have to consider very seriously.
From the work that has been done by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans through the minister, much work has been done with round tables regarding the North Atlantic right whale and at those discussions there has been the topic of the Fisheries Act and the importance of it for protecting the long-term recovery of the North Atlantic right whale, where we have less than 450 surviving today.