Ryan Cleary

[June 23rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I spent a lot of time knocking on doors during the federal election, especially in the afternoon, and I met a lot of seniors and people on fixed income. These people were often dressed in jackets, hats and mitts. The reason they were dressed that way is because they could not afford to turn on the heat. I know that seniors, people on pensions and people on fixed income are having a hard time paying their bills, especially with the rising prices of food, oil and gas.

Pensions are becoming a major issue in this country and now the pensions of postal workers are under attack. Does the member for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour see pensions becoming more of a major issue facing Canadians?

[Search and Rescue, June 14th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has his speaking notes down pat.

Where are the government's priorities? It finds billions for fighter jets and corporate tax give-aways but then make cuts that jeopardize the safety of Canadians who work off our shores. We have one of the worst search and rescue response times in the world. We should be improving our services, not cutting them.

Will the minister abandon his rash cuts and implement the Wells inquiry recommendations to improve our rescue response times and save lives?

[Search and Rescue, June 14th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, it is senseless, reckless, hasty and dangerous. Those are some of the words used to describe the decision to close the rescue communication centre in my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl. Experts, unions, the provincial fisheries minister and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have all spoken out against this indefensible move by the Conservative government.

Will the minister listen to the people of my province and reverse this reckless decision?

[The Budget, June 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite asked if the sub-centre, the search and rescue centre, is in St. John's. Yes, it is in St. John's South—Mount Pearl. It is in my riding. He should know that before he stands up to ask a question.

In terms of the member for Random—Burin—St. George's, I congratulate her on her re-election to the House of Commons.

Some comments were made on the functions of the search and rescue centre. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans called it a call centre. It is far from a call centre. Not only do the search and rescue people take calls, but if they cannot raise the vessel, they also try to contact the family, the vessel owner, the whole nine yards.

I have a question for the member for Random—Burin—St. George's. What is the Liberal stand with regard to the call for an inquiry into the fall of the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries?

[Fisheries and Oceans, June 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, when the hon. member for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke said last February that Newfoundlanders should look after themselves when it came to search and rescue, Canadians were shocked. No one realized that this would actually become Conservative government policy.

Closing the maritime rescue sub-centre in St. John's will endanger people's lives. Will the minister commit to reversing this dangerous decision and show he is serious about the safety of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians?

[The Budget, June 7th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. Where is the $4 billion in cuts going to come from?

Until the Conservative government outlines where it plans on saving that $4 billion, the fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador, the fishermen of eastern Canada, will all be on pins and needles, waiting for the axe to drop. That is not a way for fishermen to live.

We have a history in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery of 500 years. Now it is to the point where the sons of fishermen no longer want to do what their fathers did, no longer want to take to the sea.

We need an inquiry for a number of reasons.

We need to investigate science. Where does science stand within the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans?

We need to investigate management, in particular. The management of the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries has been a complete and utter failure. For proof, we need look no further than to the sea. There are few boats on the water and few fishermen on the sea.

We need to look into quotas. Who holds the rights to quotas of fish off the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador? Who is fishing the quotas? Are the boats that are fishing the quotas registered? If they are registered in Canada, who owns the vessels? Are they owned by Canadians?

We need to look into the marketing of the fish. Is the marketing being done by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, by Canadians, or is it being done by foreigners?

I ask these questions but I do not expect answers. I do not think the Conservative government knows them. For the questions that I have asked in the past, I have not been given answers. I have been told that the answers may impact negatively on international relations, not Newfoundland and Labrador relations but international relations.

[The Budget, June 7th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, not so many weeks ago, in the middle of the federal election campaign, I met a Newfoundland fisherman by the name of Paul Critch. Paul owns a 60-footer and she was tied up at Prosser's Rock boat basin on the south side of St. John's Harbour, the largest fishing port in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Paul is about my age, maybe a couple of years younger, in his early 40s. He is strong and he is capable. We do not see as many such men on the wharfs these days I am sad to report. Paul Critch is also a fifth generation fisherman. We stood there on the wharf on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean, about as far away from Ottawa as one can get in this country, a place that many federal bureaucrats, even those with DFO, probably cannot even imagine. We had a conversation about the fishery and where the fishery was headed.

Paul said that he named his boat Chelsea and Emily after his two daughters. Upon the birth of his second daughter, Paul said that his father remarked, “Thank God it is not a boy. A grandson would have to go into the fishery, and who wants that?”.

This is what Newfoundland and Labrador has come to in terms of our once great fishery, the greatest fishery in the world on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the fishery that we presented to Canada in 1949.

Sixty-two years later and our commercial groundfish fishery for species such as cod and flounder are on their knees. They have been managed to annihilation. History of the Newfoundland Cod Collapse is the title of a book that was released in 2010. As the title indicates, managed annihilation contends that northern cod were administered into virtual extinction. I give members three guesses as to who did the administering.

We are supposed to run out of oil. We are not supposed to run out of fish. We have hit rock bottom. The time to rebuild is now. Better late than never.

It has been 20 years since the northern cod moratorium and commercial fishing was stopped off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time in 500 years. It has been 20 years since the biggest layoff in Canadian history and what has been done? Nothing. Rebuilding is the furthest thing from the mind of the Conservative government. Rebuilding is a foreign concept.

I sat and listened to the Minister of Finance, the member for Whitby—Oshawa, Monday as he tabled his budget. I listened to every word. It is a wonderful thing to be able to hear a member of Parliament when he or she speaks.

I compliment the leader of the New Democrats, the leader of Her Majesty's official opposition, for his no heckling policy. Before this life, I worked as a journalist for almost 20 years. I have sat in the gallery of my home legislature and watched as politicians behaved like insolent children. It is not a pretty sight and it can be an embarrassing sight.

As I read this morning in the Ottawa Citizen:

We need passionate, even biting, debate in Parliament. What we don't need are childish insults and grandstanding.

Well done I say to the Leader of the Opposition and member for Toronto—Danforth.

I listened to the Minister of Finance when he spoke so proudly of the budget but I saw more of the same for my province. We have hit rock bottom but the Conservative government sees fit to pound us further into the ground. That will be enough of that.

Under program review, the Conservative government has seen fit to further cut the budget of Fisheries and Oceans Canada by almost $85 million. That will be $9.1 million gone this fiscal year, $18.9 million gone in 2012-13 and a further $56.8 million gone in 2013-14. That will be $84.8 million less for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to continue doing what little work it is doing today. On top of that, according to federal budget estimates, DFO's overall budget is almost $145 million less this fiscal year than last fiscal year, plus, as I have outlined, $87 million in savings targeted by the Conservative government in cuts to DFO.

To make matters worse, and, yes, they can still get worse, the Minister of Finance spoke in this chamber Monday about finding a further $4 billion in savings. Where is that $4 billion going to come from? From fisheries? As they say where I come from, “You can't get blood from a turnip”. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador, the fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador have nothing left to give.

What I so dearly would have loved for the Minister of Finance to announce Monday was an inquiry into the fall of the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. The fisheries fell almost 20 years ago and they have yet to rise. The question is, why? The call for an inquiry is supported by my party, the New Democratic Party. Where does the Conservative government stand on an inquiry into the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries?

John Crosbie once asked, “Who hears the fishes when they cry?” I can answer that: no one.

I have another question, a bigger one. Who hears the fishermen when they cry? The New Democrats hear the cry.

Do the Conservatives hear the fishermen when they cry, the few fishermen who are left?

I will continue to listen when members opposite take to their feet. The fishermen of Newfoundland and Labrador will be listening as well.

Maybe some day we will want our sons to be fishermen again and our sons will want to be fishermen.

[Newfoundland and Labrador, June 6th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, for my first statement in the House of Commons, I must acknowledge the constituents of the great riding of St. John's South--Mount Pearl and thank them for their support.

For the first time since Confederation in 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador is represented by two New Democrat MPs in this esteemed Chamber. We may not have the raw MP numbers of the other provinces, but the way I like to see it, the member for St. John's East and I make up for it by being from Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have a quick note for Conservative members opposite. If they look to the stained glass window the furthest to their right, they will see the pitcher plant, the official flower of Newfoundland and Labrador. How privileged they are to sit across from such a raw and rugged beauty. The stained glass window also faces toward Newfoundland and Labrador. I ask members to look to the pitcher plant when they speak of my province. But be warned, the--