Loyola Hearn

[Fisheries and Oceans, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think I just did that. I agree with the member that the integrity of the program must be protected. The only thing that really bothers me is that we need to have observers and monitors in the first place which brings an added cost down to the fisherman. The only reason we have that is to ensure our fishermen live by the rules. If we can ever get to the day when people will fish according to the rules we will not want any of these.

[Fisheries and Oceans, June 7th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows, this program was initiated by the former government. We put the brakes on it because I believe, as the member believes, that observers on the boat should be independent. If they are controlled by the boat owner it is quite often who pays the piper calls the tune.

[Fisheries, June 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell the George Baker wannabe who floundered around on his first question that last year we brought the standing committee to Newfoundland to get input from the people so that a sound decision could be made.

That very member walked out of the committee meeting to try to scuttle bringing the committee to the province and to let the Liberal Party send in its goons. The only thing was that one of the goons was a good goon and he supported us. We went to Newfoundland and got the information we needed and we will make the decision at the appropriate time.

[Fisheries, June 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if there is a question, but I think I know what the hon. gentleman is saying.

I will just let him know from the position where I sit that we had a program for taking older workers out of the fishery. Many of the fishermen could not retire because they would lose their investment due to no break in capital gains.

We brought in a program that his government did not. The funny thing about it is that older fishermen can now retire, sell off their enterprises and not have a clawback by government.

The question I would ask is this: why did the hon. gentleman not support it?

[Fisheries, May 19th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, first, I thank the hon. member for the work he has done on this file over the last two or three years.

When we talk about fisheries, we talk about the Atlantic, the Pacific and the north. Quite often we forget we have a major fishery in the Great Lakes. One of the enemies is the invasive species such as the sea lamprey.

We continue to work with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the joint United States-Canadian group, to combat the problem. It has done a great job. This year we will spend over $8 million on it.

[Fisheries, May 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member has been reading my notes and speeches undoubtedly. The fish in our waters is a common property resource owned by the people of Canada and should be caught by Canadians and processed for the people of this country, not for the benefit of any other country. The companies that have quotas, or the individuals who have quotas, will catch it and use it for the benefit of our people or they will not catch it at all.

[Fisheries, May 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, as the member well knows, there is a crisis in the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly in his own region.

In relation to Fishery Products International, we are in discussions at present with the provincial government and the union. FPI has not indicated at all that it does not intend to continue business as usual. However, I will guarantee the member that it will not ship any fish to China or anywhere else outside this country by water. If it goes by land, it is then outside our hands.

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, let me say that with the former government, the former prime minister in particular, whenever there was an issue, whenever the squeeze came on, the logical thing was thrown out and they would convene a conference to deflect attention from the real issue.

I have no problem with spending money when we get results but we saw a lot of smoke and mirrors. Any time we get a benefit, the money is well spent. I offer my guarantee to the member and the people of Canada that we are not spending my money or the member's money. We are spending taxpayer money and we will get value for every cent we spend.

[Atlantic Accord, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, we all remember the old Gilligan show. I just cannot think of the name of the parrot but I am sure it will come to me.

Let me assure the individual who spends more time watching television than he does following what goes on in his own province that we will ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador gets every cent it deserves and will be treated as fairly as any other province in this country. That is the commitment of the Minister of Finance, the commitment of the Prime Minister and the commitment of this government.

[Atlantic Accord, May 9th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member, being a Newfoundlander, should know that the Minister of Fisheries will always be the skipper of the ship.

We know the commitments we made, not only made but delivered to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Maybe he should ask why we had to wait so long to deliver to a province what was rightfully a province's own justification for getting good benefit from the offshore that his party should have delivered years ago.