Finance committee  We haven't directly. One tiny aspect that we've been advocating for is to have bridge fees dropped for anything related to seafood that comes to or from the island, because that puts us at a competitive disadvantage in many cases. That's just a small example. Obviously, we don't

Finance committee  I think from our perspective we'll have a little better handle on that in the next few months, since there was such focus to get the wharves just functional for the spring. I do know that there was some overlap with programs. If you didn't apply for this one, you weren't able to

Finance committee  At this point, the cost of the units is very high. It is coming down, but at the end of the day, I think if we want people to seriously look at that technology, much as the case in the auto sector....

Finance committee  That's correct. Another area we're looking at is less-expensive technology. There may be a combination of two or three things that could be done for less money to achieve savings.

Finance committee  It's not only from an operational standpoint, the fewer traps in the water, depending on the fishery, the greater the net decrease in fuel consumption and reduction in carbon. It also makes the existing fishers more viable. I think that's the real problem we have on Prince Edward

Finance committee  We agree.

Finance committee  Thank you, Chair. The Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association would like to thank the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for the opportunity to present our comments for the 2023-24 federal pre-budget consultations. We would like to suggest and present investmen

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. We have quite a good program on Prince Edward Island, I must say. It's not so much on the financing, but it's more to teach the skills of what you need to do and how to run your business to be successful and survive. I've had calls from other organizations, and we've

Fisheries committee  Our concern is that they're still happening.

Fisheries committee  Certainly the price of lots of licences is a big concern. It would be interesting to see the economics on that, and, I guess, how many other bids there were. What were those bids in terms of the true market value for a licence like that?

Fisheries committee  I don't know the specifics of that, but one thing that harvester groups were collectively advocating was very tough and rigorous rules that had to be followed. You get into confidentiality, obviously—

Fisheries committee  I wanted to add, as Colin mentioned, that there are companies that are getting a pretty substantial foothold in the marketplace and controlling all those costs he mentioned. We share that concern for sure.

Fisheries committee  I can't name any specifics right now. Certainly as the price of fleets increases, I guess our concern is certainly on the financing and making sure that there are adequate resources there to finance these purchases. I think it was mentioned on an earlier committee that the finan

Fisheries committee  I was reading an article just the other day about another country trying to corner the cobalt market to supply the batteries for the EV market. I think we have to think of food in that context. As I mentioned earlier, I think there's a fairly good balance, but there's a lot of

Fisheries committee  Yes, but ultimately that translates down to the harvester level in terms of less competition and perhaps more onerous restrictions.