Preston Manning

[Aboriginal Affairs, March 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the wrong minister answered the last question. This shooting on the Tsuu T'ina reserve raises many troubling questions that go way beyond legalities. Why is it that Connie Jacobs and the six children who were living with her were living in such squalor when this band is not poor? Why are so many reserves plagued with alcoholism, drug abuse and violence when Parliament gives this minister's department so much authority and so much money to deal with these problems?

What is the minister, what is the department, what is the government doing to get to the roots of these problems rather than just dealing with the—

[Fisheries, March 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, when the east coast fishery collapsed the government treated it as a national issue, and rightly so. When the west coast salmon fishery is threatened the government dismisses it as a regional problem.

If the supreme court renders a decision prejudicial to Quebec it is treated as a national unity issue. When the supreme court renders a decision prejudicial to B.C. like the Delgamuukw case it is ignored.

British Columbia is on the way to becoming the second largest province in the country. How long will it be until British Columbia issues are treated as national issues?

[Fisheries, March 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, if Ontario were in an economic nosedive and heading into a recession, the Liberals would declare a national emergency. If central Canada's unemployment rate had jumped one-half of 1% in a month, the Liberal cabinet would be in an emergency session.

Those nightmares are coming true in B.C. and the Prime Minister does not even have a briefing note on British Columbia. All he can say is “we gave you the APEC conference instead of giving it to Toronto”. Thank you very little.

Why is it that the government never treats British Columbia issues as genuine national issues?

[Fisheries, March 25th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday when we asked the Prime Minister about the 5,000 latest job losses in the B.C. salmon industry he did not have an answer. Instead he talked about east coast cod crisis and blamed it on the Tories.

The B.C. salmon crisis is a recent problem. It was not inherited from the Tories. The Prime Minister might try to point fingers at others for the east coast fishery crisis, but who will he blame for the B.C. salmon crisis: the department, the fisheries minister or himself?

[Fisheries, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this means absolutely nothing to the people of British Columbia. The only significant natural resource the government directly manages is fish. Yet the fisheries department ignored scientific advice on conservation, it failed repeatedly to deal with foreign overfishing, it has presided over the collapse of the east coast cod fishery and now it is failing the west coast fishery.

Who is the Prime Minister going to ask to resign over these failures, senior bureaucrats in the department, the minister or both?

[Fisheries, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, here is what a senior cabinet minister from B.C., the federal minister of fisheries, said about this quota cut: “It does not necessarily mean that people do not have work. It just means that they earn a lot less when they do work”. He actually said that, it does not necessarily mean that people do not have work, it just means that they earn a lot less when they do work.

Why is the Liberal economic plan for British Columbia fewer jobs and less pay?

[Fisheries, March 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we asked the government what it was going to do for the British Columbia economy. B.C. is now in a recession. Its unemployment rate is up one half of one per cent in a single month.

Today we got our answer. For starters the Liberals are going to cut B.C.'s fishing quota in half. Up to 5,000 B.C. fishermen and plant workers will be laid off.

My question is for the Prime Minister. Why does British Columbia have to pay the price for federal mismanagement of the west coast fishery?

[Fisheries, March 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the government, the minister, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have been dismissing these charges for years. These excuses are simply not acceptable. Mismanagement of the east coast fishery has now spread to mismanagement of the west coast fishery and is causing many of the problems now in British Columbia.

What will the government do about mismanagement at the fisheries department?

[Fisheries, March 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, members of the government caucus have been vocal on this subject in the corridors of the House and not simply in the committee. Theirs is not the only voice charging mismanagement.

Last year the auditor general did an exhaustive investigation of that department and came to exactly the same conclusion. They say that when a fish rots, it rots from the head down.

How many more scathing reports will it take before the government acknowledges that the fisheries department has become part of the problem, not part of the solution?

[Fisheries, March 23rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, for years fishermen, scientists and outside observers have been attributing much of the collapse of the east coast fishery to mismanagement by the department.

The Prime Minister and the minister always dismissed these charges, but now we have Liberal members of the Liberal dominated fisheries committee saying exactly the same thing.

Will the government finally acknowledge that departmental mismanagement is responsible for the loss of thousands of jobs in the Atlantic fishery?