Fisheries committee  I would just go back to the earlier statements. It has been a bit puzzling for me personally as to where the concerns were coming from. When I hear that perhaps there was a misperception that these were being converted to commercial communal licences, I can see where maybe that

Fisheries committee  What I can speak to is the process that we went through in this transaction. There was extensive due diligence done by the department around the Canadian ownership provisions, and extensive information provided to the department with respect to the new owners. I would expect that

Fisheries committee  It has been an honour for me to participate in this process. As Jennifer said, we've worked together on a variety of deals before this. Clearwater announced that it was putting itself up for sale in March 2020, and the Mi'kmaq were at the table from the beginning. It has just b

Fisheries committee  Sustainability is a core value at Clearwater. It always has been. Jennifer has spoken to the Mi’kmaq perspective, and it's very inspiring to hear Chief Paul and the other chiefs speak about how you look at seven generations as you consider any decision. One of the really nice thi

Fisheries committee  My perspective on this is the department has a long-standing policy around foreign ownership, and it's clearly understood and adhered to from what I see in the resource on the east coast. A lot of what was talked about in the earlier session around foreign ownership was really on

Fisheries committee  From a DFO policy perspective, all Canadian fishing licences are required to be owned by a Canadian company. My understanding of that policy is that it means at least 51% Canadian ownership.

Fisheries committee  I should hope so.

Fisheries committee  The ownership structure of Premium Brands was considered and looked at by DFO in this transaction. Premium Brands is a publicly traded company. They're based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their shareholdings are at least 80% Canadian owned. If you translate that, they own 50% o

Fisheries committee  No, and we maintain the MSC certification on many of our other products, in fact. In each case it's really a decision that is based on the value that the eco-label brings in the marketplace. I think Canadian seafood does have a very good reputation internationally. That's on the

Fisheries committee  Our operations generate significant economic activity in small coastal communities. In many cases, we are the major employer. I would use Grand Bank in Newfoundland as an example. Our plant in that community is the significant employer. We have a great working relationship with t

Fisheries committee  In this transaction, there is no change in the status of these licences. These are offshore commercial licences, and they remain offshore commercial licences. What has changed in this transaction is the ownership of those licences and the company.

Fisheries committee  Again, these licences aren't being converted, so they are not transitioning into communal commercial licences. They are remaining offshore commercial licences as they were prior to the transaction. There really is no connection to the PIIFCAF regulation, formerly a policy. It's a

Fisheries committee  No, the change in ownership doesn't affect our ability to hold inshore licences. We are prohibited from doing that under what was policy in DFO and is now regulation. That regulation continues to apply today in the same way that it did prior to the transaction.

Fisheries committee  Clearwater is a major employer across Atlantic Canada. As I said, we have 1,500 employees. Those employees live in 276 communities across the province. We have major processing operations in small coastal communities, and we also have a significant number of our employees who are

Fisheries committee  I don't have our economic activity broken down by community at hand here, Mr. Mazier.