Mr. Chair, I thank the member for Cape Breton—Canso for his very deep engagement with his community and for championing the issues, including small craft harbours in Cape Breton.
Our government and I fully understand the important role that small craft harbours play in our country. These government-owned harbours are located throughout Canada and provide commercial fish harvesters and other small craft harbour users with safe and accessible facilities. Some 90% of Canadian fishing vessels are using small craft harbours, and fish harvesters depend on these facilities to support their livelihoods.
As the parliamentary secretary mentioned, our government provided $300 million over two years to repair, renew and replace small craft harbours. With this new funding, our government has now announced that $784 million in new funding for a small craft harbours program has been allocated since 2016, so we understand how important these harbours are to communities. In these estimates that we are discussing today, $149.5 million in new funding is being provided for the small craft harbours program.
We understand how important the fish and seafood industry is. It is my job and commitment to grow that industry. For that we need harbours that can support the fishers who use them, and we are working to do just that.