Jonathan Wilkinson

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly agree that the gutting of the Fisheries Act by the previous Conservative government was a terrible thing. We are restoring lost protections through the new Fisheries Act, which is presently before the other chamber.

We have invested $142 million, alongside Premier Horgan of British Columbia, for habitat restoration, which is the largest single investment in salmon habitat restoration in the history of this country. We have worked to ensure that we are managing the fisheries in an effective way. We are convening a broad conversation of stakeholders on issues around predation by seals and sea lions.

We have a bold and comprehensive plan to ensure that we are doing what is necessary to recover and restore salmon populations.

[Fisheries and Oceans, May 3rd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we worked very closely with fish harvesters in Atlantic Canada as we developed the measures for the fishing season but also with respect to protecting the North Atlantic right whales. We worked very hard to ensure that we incorporated the feedback from fish harvesters and met extensively with them. Those measures, I think, were fairly well received by fish harvesters.

We are working actively through the Canadian Coast Guard to ensure that we are opening up all the harbours as quickly as we possibly can so that the harvesters can get out to fish crab.

[Fisheries and Oceans, April 29th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, addressing the decline in the Fraser River chinook is obviously a complicated process. It involves money going into habitat restoration, which we announced with Premier Horgan of British Columbia. It involves the new Fisheries Act, which brings back the protections that were lost under the previous Conservative government. It focuses on ensuring that appropriate fisheries management is taking place, which was the announcement I made last week. It also focuses on ensuring that we are discussing issues relating to supplementation in hatcheries. There are certainly pros and cons associated with that from a science perspective. We are engaging in that conversation with the recreational fishery and we will continue to do so.

[Fisheries and Oceans, April 29th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to stand with Premier John Horgan about a month or so ago to announce the B.C. salmon restoration and innovation fund, which is $142 million focused on habitat restoration in British Columbia, the largest investment ever made in habitat restoration.

We have expedited the process to ensure that we are taking in applications with respect to that fund and we will be commencing decisions on those applications by early June. I think that a two and a half month period to solicit applications and to make decisions is a pretty darn fast period of time.

[Government Priorities, April 29th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we developed our plan with the help of Canadians. Our serious and affordable approach will get good results. We have a plan that includes over 50 measures to fight climate change and make the economy clean and affordable for everyone. Canadians want real action, not the Conservatives' status quo or the NDP's talk.

[Government Priorities, April 29th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we have implemented many measures to fight climate change. We implemented measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We addressed the economic issues and we have a plan to adapt to climate change. We have demonstrated leadership and will continue to do so.

[Government Priorities, April 29th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we have developed a comprehensive plan to address carbon emissions across this country that focuses not only on reducing emissions and adapting to some of the changes we are seeing in climate change but focuses very much on generating the new economy.

As somebody who has spent 20 years as a CEO in green tech, I understand this area very well. This government has a comprehensive plan to ensure we are addressing this on a go-forward basis in a responsible and thoughtful way.

[Fisheries and Oceans, April 2nd, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly take the threat of aquatic invasive species in Canadian waters very seriously, and we accept the recommendations of the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. We are already, in fact, addressing a number of the key gaps she notes in her report.

In budget 2017, we allocated approximately $44 million to address issues associated with aquatic invasive species. That money is now in the process of being rolled out. We are working actively with the provinces, which also have jurisdiction in this area, to ensure that we have a comprehensive plan to address the issue of aquatic invasive species.

[Fisheries and Oceans, January 31st, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, decisions with respect to fisheries are based on science and evidence.

There are five different herring fisheries areas off the BC coast. Three of them are presently closed. One is open for a commercial fishery and that is based on the abundance of the stock that exists there.

As I said, we make our decisions based on science.

[The Environment, January 28th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the issues associated with the southern resident killer whale are very important. It is part of a broader conversation around biodiversity.

There are three significant challenges for the killer whales: access to food, issues around marine shipping and contaminants in the water, all of which exist today, all of which are the product of industrialization over the past several decades.

We are working very hard through the whales initiative to ensure we put the killer whales back on an appropriate path to success, and ensure that the environment and economy go forward hand in hand.