Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I have met with commercial harvesters on a regular basis throughout all of this, listening to their concerns. Making sure that we hear from them is extremely important to me, as is making sure that Mr. Surette also has the ability to talk to them, so that when he fil

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the Coast Guard continues to make progress on fleet renewal through the national shipbuilding strategy. In 2019, the most significant investments in Coast Guard history were announced and included the construction of up to 24 new large vessels. All three offshore fi

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, more than 2,000 DFO science employees research and monitor our oceans and our aquatic ecosystems across the country. Over 90% of DFO science employees work outside Ottawa. Under the previous Conservative government, there were significant cuts to science. We reinsta

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, this year we signed on with the Global Ocean Alliance to make sure we are committing to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. This is an international effort to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to make sure our oceans are sustainable for the long t

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, in 2015, when we first formed government, less than 1% of Canada's oceans were protected. We set an ambitious target of 10% by 2020. We exceeded that. We are almost at 14%. We know there is more work to do. We are now committed to protecting 25% of Canada's oceans b

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the C&P officers have a very difficult job, but they do a very good job. We did see cuts under the previous government to C&P, but we want to ensure they have the tools they need to do the jobs they are given. I know that conservation is a top priority for

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, under the previous Conservative government, there were significant cuts to DFO in a number areas, including science, and conservation and protection. We have reinvested in DFO to make sure that we have what we need in order to do the job that is so important in our c

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and I both appointed Allister Surette to act as a special representative in this issue with regard to moderate livelihood. Mr. Surette is a well-respected member of his community. He has experience in fisheries files in th

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, as I have said a number of times this evening, I am not averse to a mark-selective fishery. However, we need to make sure that as we go forward, we do it in the right way and address the concerns we are hearing from conservationists, commercial harvesters and indigen

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, there has been significant increase in funding since 2016, after we came into government. We have announced over $484 million in new funding for small craft harbours. This is over the $90 million budgeted annually. In 2019-20, my department worked on over 245 project

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, we recognized very quickly that when COVID-19 hit, commercial harvesters were going to be seriously impacted because of the closure of export markets as well as the closure of restaurants. Because of the way their enterprises are structured, they did not qualify for

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the money that was made available to the harvesters allowed them to make really tough decisions with regard to whether they would fish for the season. A number of people took advantage of this program. They desperately needed these benefits because they knew the fish

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, I have been working and meeting with commercial harvesters since day one of becoming minister. I will continue to do that. They are listened to. They are an extremely important voice in the fishery. We want to make sure we continue to work in partnership with them. C

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the recreational fishery is an extremely important and vital part of our economy. We recognize that. We know that the measures we put in place in B.C. this year with regard to the wild Pacific salmon has impacted them. We want to ensure we are doing everything we can

Business of Supply  Madam Chair, the wild Pacific salmon stocks are in serious decline. Tough measures have to be taken to ensure we can continue to work to address the concerns around the decline of these stocks. We know this has been very difficult for anglers. We are meeting with them on a regula