International Trade committee  Thank you very much for inviting us here today. It is very important that we work more closely with the federal government to improve our exports, which create a lot of jobs, and to make sure we have food security in the provinces and in the country. I appreciate the work the pre

International Trade committee  We're working very closely with them. Your minister, Rick Doucet in New Brunswick, is very passionate about his lobsters, and he claims they're better than Nova Scotia's. That's an ongoing discussion.

International Trade committee  The minister on P.E.I. is the same. We work very closely together, the three of us. Actually, we met a week ago in Charlottetown to discuss lobster and other fisheries and agriculture issues. It's good to see that both of them now are, as Newfoundland is, agriculture and fisherie

International Trade committee  I think the owner-operator model is one of the key elements in the fishing industry in eastern Canada. It has to be preserved, but it also has to have a use-it-or-lose-it tag on it as well. A lot of the owner-operators sit at home and sell their quotas. That's not the idea of the

International Trade committee  If New Brunswick is better at processing something because they have more supply than we do, they should be the province that does most of that, but not all of it. I think we want to see more processed locally and more value added locally. If you use Iceland as an example, the

International Trade committee  The one thing that we need to put in place—and this applies to both sectors, but more immediately so to the fisheries industry—is automation in our processing facilities. We have to have automation. We can't get enough employees, but we need highly skilled people in an automated

International Trade committee  There's no question. I've held up lobsters.... You weren't there when I did that, but I held up a lobster and the room was full of people. No matter what they were doing, they went right to whoever was holding up the lobster to see the lobster. It was really something else. It

International Trade committee  I recently came back from Hong Kong and China. We're planning to go to China again in October and November. We still have to make sure I can get out of the legislature to do that, but the premier's office has given me the go-ahead, so that's a good indication.

International Trade committee  I want to thank you for the great work you did in China as Minister of Agriculture, and for the fine working relationship we had. It's a great market for us. We've seen our seafood trade, particularly in lobsters, grow by 200% to 300% a year, and we mean to continue that trend. W

International Trade committee  Could you repeat that, please?

International Trade committee  It doesn't appear to be an issue at this present time, and I don't think it will be, but again, who knows? It's hard to say. We're really concerned about the European Union. Hopefully we'll be successful with the federal government and the other provinces all working together to

International Trade committee  I can't give you the exact number of farms, but they represent the biggest sector in Nova Scotia. It's $564 million a year, I believe, in the rural economy. Dairy has a huge impact on Nova Scotia, but it's more than just the financial part of it: we should be looking in more at f

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. If I could, Mr. Chair, I would like to start with a prepared statement, and then maybe we can have an open dialogue after that, if that's all right.

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to appear before you during your visit to Halifax. I am very pleased to be joined this morning by my legislature colleague Terry Farrell, the member for Cumberland North. As Minister of Fish