Mr. Speaker, there are many things that we like in the bill, but we have a concern that I would like to highlight.
In 2015, almost three years ago, the mandate letter sent to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard from the Prime Minister instructed the minister to act on recommendations of the Cohen Commission on restoring sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. In recommendation 3 of the report of Justice Cohen, it recommends that “...The Government of Canada should remove from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ mandate the promotion of salmon farming as an industry and farmed salmon as a product.”
However, DFO continues to promote the salmon farming industry and the product. People at home do not understand how DFO can both market fish farming but also have the same mandate to protect our wild salmon.
When will the government finally act on this recommendation? Again, it is a recommendation that was set out three years ago.