Peter MacKay

[Petitions, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I am in possession of a petition from the citizens of Canso and surrounding communities that was signed as recently as yesterday.

The petition calls upon parliament and in particular the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to revisit his decision to deny a fisheries quota to the Canso fish plant which will result in the closure of the main industry of Canso. It goes on to state that the minister's decision on Canso leaves individuals in that town without the ability to earn a livelihood. The petitioners call on parliament and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to reconsider this decision.

This is an urgent matter. It is one which affects the lives and livelihood of hundreds of people in Guysborough county. We are hoping that the request for an emergency debate application which also relates to this issue will be heard and accepted by the Chair later today.

[Winter Paralympic Games, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, last night brought to a close the eighth Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City with Canadian athletes bringing home an exceptional six gold medals along with four silver and five bronze. Canada's total of 15 medals ranks us sixth out of the 36 participating countries, a great accomplishment, a testament to training, coaching and commitment to excellence.

Yesterday Scarborough's Chris Williamson won the men's slalom. Brian McKeever of Calgary earned his third medal of the games with a silver. Victoria's Lauren Woolstencroft won her second gold for Canada. Karolina Wisniewska of Calgary finished second to earn her fourth medal of the games.

The athletes have overcome much in life, in sport and have inspired us all.

The Paralympic tradition dates back to 1948 when Sir Ludwig Guttman organized a sports competition for World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. It was in Toronto in 1976 that the idea of merging athletes with different disabilities for international competition was first born. Later that same year the first Paralympic Winter Games were held in Sweden with over 250 athletes representing 14 countries.

The Salt Lake City games were able to boost the participation to 36 countries and over 1,000 athletes and officials. With competitions in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing and sledge hockey, Canada was represented in these sports by 60 athletes, coaches and officials.

We thank all the participants. We cherish and cheer their achievements at these games. On behalf of the Progressive Conservative/Democratic Representative caucus, I would like to congratulate all of those great Canadian athletes and medal winners who represented Canada so well at the eighth Paralympic Winter Games. They have made us so proud.

They are exceptional and extraordinary. We are very proud of them.

[Fisheries, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans denied a fish proposal that would have opened a plant and renewed hope for Canso, Nova Scotia.

Yesterday, over 300 concerned citizens, community and religious leaders gathered in Canso and displayed their determination and fierce optimism despite the bad news. The ACOA minister from Newfoundland seemed more open to solutions for Canso in Nova Scotia than our fisheries minister.

Would the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans reconsider his earlier, intransigent position and work with the stakeholders from Canso to find a workable solution to bring fishing and hope back to the community of Nova Scotia?

[Ten Cent Coin, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I too am extremely pleased to have an opportunity to speak to this important motion brought forward by my colleague and friend from the South Shore. I want to leave ample time for him to conclude his remarks.

As was so aptly expressed by my colleague from New Brunswick as well, the Canadian symbol of the Bluenose has become such that we burst with pride. It is truly, for all Atlantic Canadians, a symbol of superiority. There is a sense of historic pride for that time, and the fishermen and fisherwomen who took part in the industry hearken back to a time of prosperity, to a time when we were seen as perhaps much greater contributors to the Canadian economy. When the Grand Banks and the nose and tail of the Flemish Cap were bustling with cod and schooners like the Bluenose were there with other ships, manned with crews from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, there was truly a boom in that region of the country. There will be again.

When we have symbols like the Bluenose we have an opportunity to rally round and to speak of the prosperity, the opportunity, that existed then and can exist again if a proper approach is taken in developing all the regions of Canada.

The Bluenose , as my friend indicated, was built in Lunenburg on the south shore of Nova Scotia. It was designed by William Roue, a naval architect from Halifax. The ship itself had incredible prowess. It was the fastest and best ship of its type. It competed internationally and never lost a single race. It won the coveted Fisherman's Trophy and raced from 1921 to 1938. It was of course the pride of the area and it became a symbol for those who participated in the bustling industry and fishery of that era.

The Bluenose was but one of a large fleet of over 150 bankers, as they were known, built at a time when the days of sail were starting to give way to steam. Yet this ship was a particular icon for those who knew her, who sailed her and who saw her. It continues to be so today, as evidenced by the effort brought forward by my friend from the South Shore.

I will say as well that the Bluenose was known all over the maritimes but also in an area in Guysborough County just off the coast, the Sable grand banks and the Sable shore, where the fabled Sable Island exists. It was one of the most treacherous areas on the east coast, one where the Bluenose on several occasions aptly skipped through that treacherous water known as the graveyard of the Atlantic, captained by Angus Walters. There are tales of how his skill and navigational ability saved his crew as he went through those highly treacherous waters.

I can tell the House that in Guysborough today, in Canso, Nova Scotia, people are still trying to eke out a living in the fishery. It is symbols like the Bluenose that allow them to cling to that heritage, that culture, that sense of who they are.

Again I reiterate the words of earlier speakers who have indicated their support for the motion. This cherished symbol of Canadian pride, the Bluenose , should remain on the dime. We are glad to see that it will happen and I commend my friend for his efforts to see that such is the case.

[Request for Emergency Debate, March 15th, 2002]

Agreed.

[Request for Emergency Debate, March 15th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be heard on what I encourage the Chair to adopt as an emergency debate application. As the Chair knows, this request is pursuant to Standing Order 52. In particular, I draw attention to paragraph 6(a) which refers to the criteria and which calls upon the House to consider “the matter proposed for discussion must relate to a genuine emergency, calling for immediate and urgent consideration”.

For the people of the small town of Canso, Nova Scotia in the riding of Pictou--Antigonish--Guysborough, this is perhaps the gravest emergency they have faced in a long time. That town is not unaccustomed to these types of emergency situations.

The decision taken yesterday by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to deny an application, a proposal for division 3O redfish, has left the town with very little hope. Its citizens were clinging to some hope that the federal, provincial and municipal governments would come to their assistance. Without the plant operating, the majority of the population of the town has no income, none whatsoever, because of the lack of industry, the lack of opportunity that exists for the town today. The people there have been struggling for generations to make a go of it in the fisheries. There was a time when a very prosperous and lucrative fishery existed in the town.

The mayor of the town, Frank Fraser, along with his counsel, MLA Ron Chisholm, the Canso Trawlermen's Co-op headed up by Pat Fougere, the union, the plant workers and everyone in that vicinity are looking to the government for some solution, some ability to keep the town afloat.

The town is completely reliant on that one industry. The people there are now entering a black hole, a period in time in which they have not worked enough hours. Their EI is running out. They have no access to any other government program. They literally have no means to support themselves and their families.

The small businesses that have existed in that town have closed their doors. Many citizens have already left for places where they can secure employment. Over 30 houses in the small village have been put up for tax sales because of tax arrears. Bankruptcies are looming. A majority of the children in town rely on a breakfast program that is offered by the municipality. It is truly a grave situation.

The responses to questions in the House by the acting minister of fisheries are insulting. It is pathetic to suggest that this is somehow a political issue. Time and time again we have seen Canso in many cases used as a political football.

This is a crisis situation for Canso and there appears to be no ability for the people to get out of it. They are looking to the federal government and to the Parliament of Canada to offer some solutions.

I suggest that by partaking in a debate on the situation it is also indicative of other communities in the Atlantic and Quebec regions, to which the minister referred in his letter. He said that there are other crises. I suggest there is none as serious or as grave as the one facing the town of Canso and its citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I very much urge you to please accept this application. If you need more consideration or more evidence to suggest that it be supported, I hope that at the very least you would hold your decision in abeyance until Monday. There is a town meeting scheduled for Sunday at which all citizens and all representatives will be present. I hope that the Chair will take this consideration very seriously.

[Fisheries, March 15th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, if the government cannot find the report or an answer maybe it will find a conscience.

Yesterday the minister of fisheries denied the town of Canso quota needed to keep the Seafreez plant operating. Without that plant the town may die. The decision by the minister was a devastating blow to one of the oldest fishing ports in Canada. In his letter the minister said that access to redfish “would be contrary to Canada's international stance that this stock is being overfished”. Yet tonnes of that redfish are still in the water.

How can the Nova Scotia minister and his government deny access to a fish resource to save the very existence of a town, while ignoring the massive overfishing of Canadian fish stocks by foreign vessels?

[Grants and Contributions, March 15th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada paid over half a million dollars for half a report. Then guess what? It lost it. It has been scrambling now for the last week to come up with something to justify its wasteful incompetence. What it has come up with is a 300 page report out of Groupaction's computer hard drive. For half a million dollars, that is about $1,800 a page. What a deal.

I ask the government this. Where is the value for Canadians? What did they really get for their money? Was the report not important enough to keep or was this all just a shell game to shovel more dollars into a Liberal donor's pocket?

[Criminal Code, March 14th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, I listened to the member opposite. The reality is a long term solution is not going to cut it for Canso.

We have seen in the maritimes for a long time fishermen's interests bargained away for some benefits elsewhere.

The town of Canso is now at the point where it is going to go under. It is the federal government's responsibility to respond in times like these. If the plan is to just cull the fisheries by letting towns like Canso literally starve, that is a pretty sad statement in a country like ours.

This is a diabolical situation. Have not provinces are fighting with one another for scarce resources. When it comes to redfish, there are redfish in the water. The reality is they are there. There is uncaught quota right now on the east coast that has not been allotted. There is an ability for the government to step in right now and for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to do something proactive.

To simply suggest that long term solutions are going to be sought is not good enough. People literally will be packing their bags and leaving. Young people with no future in a small town in Nova Scotia will be forced to pick up and leave the place where their families have been for generations.

The town of Canso was built on fishing. The people there do not have other options. The government knows that. The minister certainly should know that, coming from that province and having, I would hope, more than just a passing interest in seeing towns like Canso survive.

[Criminal Code, March 14th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, it is another sad day for democracy. There is a sad day and a sad situation unfolding in the town of Canso.

I just spoke with the mayor of Canso, Frank Fraser. I am advised that he has now been contacted by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans by a letter advising him that the redfish proposal the people of Canso had so desperately hung their hopes on and were clinging to for the past number of months has been rejected by that minister. That minister, currently in Boston, at the same time was issuing press releases, pathetic self-congratulatory notices about what a record year it has been for Canada's seafood exports. It is nauseating to think he would be out of the country at the same time as sending this message which by all estimations will literally drive people from the town of Canso. There will be an exodus.

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, who is from the province of Nova Scotia and also from a fishing community, has let Canso go through a hole in the ice. This callous and cold hearted act will drive the town to extinction. By refusing to give it an allotment of redfish or access to the resource in any way displays one thing to me, that the minister either has no cabinet clout or is completely callous to the situation that exists for the people of Canso. There is no hope.

There was hope there would be at least a bridge to get them through to the next rotation so they could access their shrimp and crab quota to stay alive, to make a living in the town. If the plant closes, it is game over. Suggesting somehow that there will be other programs that will come into play that will offer assistance to these people is foolhardy and completely insulting.

The reality is that despair is setting in. Schools will close. Businesses have already closed. There is nothing to keep people in the town.

It is also suggested in the letter from the minister that somehow things are worse in other places. I cannot imagine a single place in the country today that has a worse circumstance than Canso has. The people of Canso had a prayer vigil the other night. They were clinging to some hope that there would be good news coming this week. That news today is devastating for the people of Canso and Guysborough county.

Mayor Frank Fraser, the council, MLA Ron Chisholm, the provincial government, the plant workers, the trawlermen's co-op, the fishermen's union, everyone wanted to negotiate some kind of a settlement. There had to be some solution that could be forthcoming but that has been completely dashed by the news that came today from the minister, from a man who comes from a fisheries community.

I do not mean to personalize it but there was great hope with the new minister. For the first time in 40 years the minister is someone who comes from the province of Nova Scotia. It was hoped there might be some compassion, some understanding of the challenges that face the people of Canso. That has completely slipped away by virtue of that letter today.

The government can somehow find $50 million here and there. It can commission reports that go missing. It can cancel programs at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet somehow it cannot resolve a problem for thousands of people in a place like Canso where people have only one industry to cling to, only one hope for survival.

This callous disregard, this sending out of a letter with the news and not at least giving the people some options, some hope that there will be another solution or at least something to get them through these dark days is a new low. It hits an absolute new low.

I hope that the spokesperson for the government today will be able to give the people of Canso, Nova Scotia at least some hint as to what their next step is, as to what they might somehow--