House of Commons photoLost her last election, in 2021, with 37% of the vote.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, the Marshall decision is extremely important to ensuring we address the concerns of first nations. The Supreme Court decision was clear that they have a right to fish for a moderate livelihood.
The Government of Canada is working to ensure we implement that right. I am working with first nations communities on their fisheries plans right now. It is extremely important we move this forward. That is one of the things—
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, the Coast Guard is extremely important to our coastal communities, to our marine environment. We needed to ensure that the men and women of the Coast Guard had the tools they needed. That is why we are making significant investments in rebuilding our fleet and ensuring we have the ships we need.
Some of our ships are going to age out very soon. We need to ensure the new ships are available for the Coast Guard to continue to do the good work it does.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, our government has placed significant emphasis on and made large investments in oceans over the last mandate, including the oceans protection plan.
I have been mandated by the Prime Minister to lead the development of a blue economy strategy in collaboration with the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of Natural Resources.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economic activity tied to oceans was expected to double to over $4 trillion by 2030. Canada is lagging behind in fully leveraging our blue economy. The strategy will help create good middle-class jobs and opportunities for coastal communities, while advancing our conservation objectives.
I know how important the blue economy is to our rural coastal communities. I am looking forward to working with all parliamentarians as we advance this strategy.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, when we were first elected in 2015, less than 1% of Canada's oceans were protected. We, as a government, made a commitment to ensure we were protecting the ocean for future generations. We wanted to ensure they were sustainable, that we could have a blue economy and grow that blue economy. We set a goal of 10% by 2020. We not only achieved that goal, we surpassed it. It is almost 14% of protected area now. I was very—
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, I am very proud of the work we have done at Big Bar. It has been a trigovernment approach. We have implemented a number of measures to make sure salmon are able to traverse the river. We are currently in the process of creating a natural fish passway. These are all things that have to be done, because we know how important the salmon are in the Fraser River.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, my mandate letter addresses aquatic invasive species. The European green crab can have significant impacts on marine ecosystems and can harm shellfish and aquaculture industries.
DFO is collaborating with our partners, including first nations, provincial governments, stakeholders and the U.S. state and federal governments, to address the threat of this species to Canada's fisheries and ecosystems. We know there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to aquatic invasive species and we are committed to doing that work.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, when it comes to reconciliation, our government takes a whole-of-government approach. I work directly with the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations on the agreements we have with first nations, particularly right now in Atlantic Canada given what we are dealing with regarding the moderate livelihood fishery. It is extremely important that those negotiations and conversations include the minister and me.
We are going to continue to make sure we address the concerns we hear. We will continue to work on the path of reconciliation. It is not an easy thing to do, but we are committed to making sure we get there.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, first nations have a right to fish for food, social and ceremonial reasons. We recognize that. We are going to make sure they have these rights. We take this as a priority, but conservation has to take top priority over everything.
Through the aboriginal fishing strategy, DFO and first nations seek to negotiate mutually acceptable FSC fisheries agreements. These agreements contain provisions related to the amounts that may be fished for FSC purposes, species, gear, area and other factors—
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, our government is committed to developing and delivering on concrete solutions to transition open-net farms. Recently, we announced the parliamentary secretary, the member for Burnaby North—Seymour, as the lead on engagements on this important initiative. This is a change that requires close relationships and collaboration with the Province of British Columbia, with indigenous people, with communities, with industries and with other stakeholders to ensure that the transition is workable. We are committed to this, and we are going to continue to work on it to make sure that we get it done.
Business of Supply November 24th, 2020
Madam Chair, I would like to finish my comments on the Discovery Islands. What I thought was very important was that we heard directly from first nations communities that we could not make unilateral decisions without consulting with them before we made decisions on the Discovery Islands fish farms. That is one of the reasons we are having those conversations now. I have met with first nations chiefs directly on this issue. We know that we are taking an area-based management approach to aquaculture. We are going to continue to do the hard work that needs to be done.