Fisheries committee  The answer is yes. However, I can tell you that the $200 million was extremely useful. However, without further funding, the same thing could happen again in two years' time. If the pot bubbles over the lid will blow off. I have been a member of the harbour authority for the pa

Fisheries committee  With regard to the Quebec region, I find it a bit strange that you are talking about increasing revenues. We have done our share. By way of example, when I started out, vessels paid an average of $200, and sometimes as much as $500 or $600. You have to remember what fishermen ear

Fisheries committee  The budget forecast sets out a formula for this, but we are not going to get into a fight over money. Some politicians do not want to provide any more money for this. Whatever happens, I certainly believe that the best-case scenario for the Quebec region would be to have dredging

Fisheries committee  If I may, I would like to comment on that. Unfortunately, in today's society, the various port authorities and departments act once a problem has arisen. Why do we not act until disaster strikes? I am sure that if the Canadian Parliament took preventive measures, rather than wai

Fisheries committee  I would like to give you some more information with regard to the divestiture program. Two or three years ago, it was $82 million. Today, I am certain that this figure is closer to $100 million. It is essential that the A-base funding for essential harbours not be touched. Accor

Fisheries committee  The wharf you are talking about is located in my community. Approximately 14 years ago, when we started work on this file, we were talking about approximately $250,000 to $300,000 in work. Today, the work has been assessed at anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million. Earlier,

Fisheries committee  I think that before we increase this amount, we need to make sure that the work will be done according to standards. A floating dock, for example, is a minor job, but in Quebec there are no floating docks. Our tides are quite high. This is also true in the Maritimes. Personally

Fisheries committee  Ben mentioned that one third of the port authorities or harbour infrastructures were affected by the $200 million. But just because a third of the port authorities or harbour infrastructures are getting funding does not mean that the fishing harbour problem has been resolved. Tom

Fisheries committee  The best people to talk to you about that are members of the regional boards. However, from having spoken with different people waiting for some work to be done, I can tell you that the process is sometimes slow, particularly when we know that winter is coming, for example. Witho

Fisheries committee  Boats are constantly increasing in size, which is causing congestion in the Magdalen Islands. Some forty boats will need to use Transport Canada infrastructure instead of the Fisheries and Oceans infrastructure, which represents a very serious problem. On the Magdalen Islands, ex

Fisheries committee  I'd just like to make one comment if I could, Morris. The one thing we saw with the whole fisheries renewal initiative and other programs of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans outside of small craft harbours is that there's a lot of consultation done with fishermen's organi

Fisheries committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Luc Legresley and I represent the Quebec region. First, I want to thank the committee members for allowing us to be here today and for hearing our perspective. I think that we are directly involved with communities and fishing harbour u

Fisheries committee  What worries me the most today is that for five years the government spent 100 million dollars. All of the money was well spent, I have no doubts about that. The regions were fighting amongst themselves in order to get as much money as possible. Furthermore, one must understand

Fisheries committee  The figure I know is with regard to the other regions. Most of the budget from the Quebec region goes for dredging. In regard to the other regions, it could be between 10% and 15% of the budget. If you look at whatever figure you have, the Maritimes have a lot of money, but they

Fisheries committee  If you're asking for a solution, the way I see it--because I do represent the Quebec region--is, why don't they put money aside and say this money is for dredging for all regions and this is what it costs? Put it there, and then maybe they can use the formula in order to give the