Herb Dhaliwal

[Coast Guard, February 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I want to welcome the hon. member for Richmond. I am a constituent of his so I will watch him closely.

With regard to search and rescue, I announced last year $115 million to enhance our search and rescue. The Alliance Party voted against that in the last federal election. It was because of the government that we were able to invest $14 million in state of the art hovercraft so we could take action.

With regard to the specific case, the hon. member knows that I have asked for a full review so that we could—

[Coast Guard, February 20th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, let me repeat for the hon. member that rescue diving is not a core mandate of the coast guard. This is consistent with the U.S. and British coast guard.

This was a pilot project for six years started by this government. There was a comprehensive assessment of the pilot project. As a result of that assessment the experts decided on an operational basis that this could not be continued, but I can assure the member that the Department of Defence will continue to provide the excellent service that it has in rescue diving.

[Coast Guard, February 20th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I extend from all of us in the House our sympathies to the Sandhu family on this tragic accident.

The hon. member should know that rescue diving is not a core mandate of the coast guard. In fact it is a mandate of the Department of National Defence. However, the coast guard has had a pilot project which it assessed over the last six years. As a result of the comprehensive assessment it decided to discontinue that pilot project.

This was an operational decision by the experts. Judging from the question the member asked earlier, I think he wants—

[Fisheries, February 12th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I was before the fisheries committee of which the hon. member is a member. We clearly pointed out what the legal position of the government was in terms of interpretation of the Marshall decision.

The Marshall decision clearly said that there is a right to fish commercially. We are responding to the decision and will continue to do so.

Last year, when the opposition member was saying it could not work, we had 30 signed agreements. We had aboriginal people earning a livelihood and participating in the fishery. It has worked very well. We will continue. We have a long term plan. Unfortunately they do not have a plan.

[Fisheries, February 12th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member has his facts all wrong. On Friday the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and I put forward a long term plan to deal with the Marshall decision.

We are on a two track system. The Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is looking at the broader issues of aboriginal rights and treaty rights. As Minister of Fisheries and Oceans I am continuing the good work that we did last year in building agreement and providing entrance into the fishery by the aboriginal community as asked by the Marshall decision.

We are responding. It was very successful last year and we will continue to do so.

[Fisheries, September 28th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong. Throughout the Marshall decision and our response to the Marshall decision we have worked with the commercial fishermen.

I have met with the executive itself. In fact, Mr. Thériault was assigned the job of working with the commercial fishermen to get their feedback to make sure that they played an important role and that their views were taken into consideration in the Marshall response.

Further to Marshall and in terms of the long term view, we are still working on these issues. Of course their input will be very important in the final resolution.

[Fisheries, September 26th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member is making things up as he goes along.

Clearly the decisions we have made are based on conservation. Our scientists had a technical briefing and provided all the information as to the actions we have taken. Our actions are taken to make sure we conserve the resource. Conservation is our first priority. The hon. member should stick to the facts instead of making them up as he goes along.

[Fisheries, September 26th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we did have officials go to the fisheries committee but certainly that is not what happened at the fisheries committee.

They were there to inform them about the Marshall situation and the actions we have taken on enforcement. The lobster stock is doing very well. Fisheries are doing well. It is one of the best maintained fisheries that we have. We want to make sure that we continue to maintain that fishery so that our fishermen and all Canadians can benefit from that resource. We will continue to do that.

[Fisheries, September 25th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, the federal government made a commitment of $160 million as an initial investment in bringing the aboriginal community to participate in the fisheries. That is working well. We are once again talking to the aboriginal community on a band by band basis to start working on it next year.

At the same time, my colleague the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is looking at a process with all the Atlantic policy congress chiefs to consider the long term issue because the Marshall decision goes beyond fishing. It says fishing, gathering and hunting. He is working on the long term issue and the larger, broader agenda. I am making sure we are working with individual—

[Fisheries, September 25th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, our plan was very clear. I went to the fisheries committee and outlined our plan. Our plan was also brought forward to the fisheries ministers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. They were very supportive. It was about bringing aboriginal communities into the fisheries and improving the lives of aboriginal communities. That is why we had 29 agreements with aboriginal communities. We have built the foundation to move forward, to create hundreds of jobs and real opportunity for aboriginal communities.