- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Conservative
- North Okanagan—Shuswap
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 69%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $117,514.07
- Government Page
- Apr/8/24 10:05:03 p.m.
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Madam Chair, the member for Manicouagan and I worked on the fisheries committee earlier today and I always value her input.
The question for the member just now from the parliamentary secretary has me puzzled. He was asking her what she thought could be done better. I thought it was the government's job to do the best it can for Canadians. Obviously that is not happening because even he is asking what could be done better.
Would the member agree with me that the government has absolutely failed on this and that it is looking now to everyone else for answers because it does not have them itself?
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- Dec/13/23 4:13:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservative members on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans submitted our supplementary report to this study on foreign ownership and corporate concentration of fishing licences and quota because Canada's fisheries are shared common resources owned by the citizens of Canada.
The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and her department are mandated to manage and conserve Canada's fisheries for the sustained benefit and prosperity of Canadians, not foreign entities. In the committee study, we learned how the government is severely failing to protect Canadian harvesters who have been forced to pay for the government's failure.
Laws and regulations on the east coast are not being enforced, leaving harvesters vulnerable to exploitation that should have and could have been shut down and eliminated years ago. On the west coast, the government has failed to even establish laws and regulations to protect harvesters and fisheries from foreign ownership and corporate concentration. The committee delivered recommendations to the government in 2019, but the government has failed to deliver on those recommendations.
Conservatives hear Canadian harvesters on all coasts and see the threats they are facing. We will continue to fight to ensure that Canadians can access and earn prosperity from the shared resources of Canada's fisheries.
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- Nov/29/23 4:30:56 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, Conservative members of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans submitted our supplemental report on the study of allocation of resources to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission because we are concerned about the persisting conflicts of interest and dysfunction caused by Canada's machinery of government structure for the commission.
The conflicts of interest have resulted in the Government of Canada failing to fully deliver Canada's contributions for the commission's essential work of protecting and conserving the waters and fisheries of the Great Lakes. This debacle is a national embarrassment and could have been dealt with back in April 2022 when the Prime Minister was sent a briefing note seeking a decision that could have fixed the machinery of government misalignment and resulting conflicts of interest.
Conservatives call on the Prime Minister to fix the machinery of government, eliminate the conflicts of interest, reaffirm Canada's commitment to the commission and ensure the Great Lakes are protected for future generations.
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Mr. Speaker, as this bill works its way through the process, we may see amendments at committee stage. I look forward to possibly being able to participate.
The issue I raised is that it has taken over four years, and the government is eight years into its mandate. The issues I raised within the fisheries sector have been very clear, but there was little to no action until stakeholders really started pressing the government. We are finally starting to see some very slow, initial steps being taken, steps that should have been taken years ago.
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- Mar/9/23 10:07:04 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention that the Conservative Party of Canada has appended a supplemental report to this report from the standing committee, which is on science issues. The title of the supplemental report is “Crisis of Trust in DFO Science”.
For eight years, Liberal fisheries ministers have failed to deliver on their mandates. They have not ensured decisions were based on science, facts and evidence. It is now common practice for the minister and her department to announce decisions without citing scientific reasons. This has directly undermined the trust that Canadians had in the Liberal fishery ministers and in DFO.
Canadians cannot wait any longer for the government to start making decisions to uphold the public's interest, and this includes conservation. I sincerely hope the minister will take this report to heart and take the actions necessary to restore the science required to inform her decisions and those of her department.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to speak to Bill C-251 put forward by my friend and colleague, the hon. member for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame.
The hon. member continues important work undertaken by his predecessor, Mr. Scott Simms, who served in the House from 2004 to 2021. In addition to being chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, Mr. Simms was also instrumental in the passage of Bill S-208, in 2017, to establish a national seal products day.
It has been and continues to be an honour to work with the members for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, and I am grateful for their unyielding commitment to conservation and sound fisheries management for indigenous and coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond.
Bill C-251 proposes to establish a requirement for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to develop a federal framework on the conservation of fish stocks and management of pinnipeds.
At the outset, I note that this bill's proposed requirement, I believe, is necessitated by the refusal of successive Liberal fisheries ministers to make management decisions needed to conserve and restore Canada's fisheries. In particular, I am talking about fisheries being decimated by populations of pinnipeds, like seals and sea lions, that government inaction has allowed to grow unmanaged.
What is the problem that this bill is seeking to remedy? Well, pinniped populations on Canada's coasts have been allowed to expand unchecked through decades of anti-use and anti-harvest ideologies. As pinniped populations have increased, their impacts, especially predation, have caused a domino effect of imbalances throughout ecosystems and food webs. What my colleague is seeking with this legislation is what I believe all parties want: timely and effective fisheries management to restore balance and to conserve and rebuild Canada's fish stocks.
In the face of sound science, this government has refused to accept or produce a plan to manage pinniped populations that are exacting a great toll on fish stocks, including some that are in critical states. It is as if successive fisheries ministers of this government have chosen to ignore the reality that has been described and defined by scientists, experts, indigenous and non-indigenous fishers and Canadians across our country.
For instance, three years ago, in 2019, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, known as FOPO, received testimony from Mr. Robert Bison, a fisheries biologist with the Government of British Columbia. Mr. Bison spoke to the plight of steelhead in B.C. and stated that the “evidence to date suggests that the most likely causes responsible for the decline and survival of abundance include an increase in predation in the inshore marine habitats; increased predation from marine mammals, particularly pinnipeds”.
Mr. Bison went on to testify that all factors of steelhead declines are partially or wholly human-induced effect and that the increase in pinniped populations particularly is largely attributed to marine mammal protection in both Canada and the U.S. He also testified that, in terms of the evidence of causal factors, pinniped predation in the inshore waters actually ranked among the strongest causal factor, not only for steelhead, but for many salmon populations as well.
At the fisheries committee's meeting on June 5, 2019, Dr. Eric Taylor of the University of British Columbia also appeared. In his testimony, Dr. Taylor stated that he supported bold action required to deal with the pinniped issue. He said, “That there may be some uncertainty as to the exact effect of pinnipeds is exactly why bold action is needed.” He want to say, “Instead of residing in this sort of atmosphere of speculation, we can actually provide some management actions to reduce numbers in an experimental approach to try to understand the situation better.”
Here we have two experienced fisheries experts describing to parliamentarians how increased pinniped populations are directly damaging fish populations, including some that are in critical or worse conditions.
At the same meeting in which Mr. Bison and Dr. Taylor provided their testimony, DFO’s director for the Pacific region, Ms. Rebecca Reid, also appeared as a witness and provided testimony that clearly reflected the government’s refusal to manage known and detrimental ecosystem factors, such as pinniped predation in order to support conservation and recoveries of wild fish and marine species.
In her testimony, Ms. Reid told the committee:
In our view, the question about pinnipeds is outstanding. We have done some work. There has been a recent symposium. There is some additional work going on. I would say that the impact of pinnipeds on these species is not entirely clear.
That was three years ago, and the government and its officials continue to stonewall pinniped management actions to save fish populations like Fraser River steelhead and Pacific salmon from being wiped out by out-of-control populations of pinnipeds.
In 2020, Dr. Carl Walters from the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries appeared at the fisheries committee. Dr. Walters has been doing research on Pacific salmon populations for over 50 years, focused particularly on understanding why there have been severe declines in salmon and herring populations.
Dr. Walters testified how he has come to believe that the declines have been substantially due to massive increases in seal and sea lion populations and their predation impacts as the number of pinnipeds on the Pacific coast today is probably double what it was for the last several thousand years, when first nations people harvested them intensively.
Dr. Walters described how major increases in Steller sea lion populations in B.C. waters outside the Georgia Strait have contributed to Fraser sockeye declines and collapses of two of B.C.’s major herring stocks on the west coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii. Scientists like Dr. Walters are not only raising the alarm over pinniped populations but they are also proposing viable solutions.
Dr. Walters contributed to one such proposal that he helped the Pacific Balance Pinniped Society develop for commercial and first nations harvesting of seals and sea lions, which is aimed at reducing these pinniped populations and sustaining them at the levels that existed when first nations harvesting maintained balances at ecosystems levels.
As Mr. Bison testified, increases in pinniped populations particularly are largely human induced and attributed to marine mammal protection in both Canada and the U.S. I assume the human decision-makers of the day had good intentions when they introduced protections for marine mammals, but as the decision-makers of today, what are our intentions?
Should we be following science data? Should we take action as pinnipeds in B.C. waters drive our steelhead and salmon populations to extinction? Should we expect the government direction to drive recovery of cod and mackerel stocks in Canada’s Atlantic waters? Should indigenous communities have the right to participate in restoring ecosystem balance through predator management?
From my Conservative colleagues and me, the answers to these four questions are yes, yes, yes and yes. As we see many of Canada's fish stocks continue to decline under the current management regime of preservation based on ideologies instead of conservation based on science, I hope members from all parties will agree that action, not just more studies and talk, needs to happen in our waters to rebuild fish stocks.
I hope hon. colleagues from all parties will support this bill and vote yes, because it is necessary. Timely and effective pinniped management is necessary to restore balance in ecosystems to give our fisheries, the fishers and the communities that depend on them a chance to survive.
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- May/30/22 11:42:11 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, 300 people are to be employed through this program, but there are no clear answers here yet on what is going to be completed this year.
What PSSI funding is allocated to drive improved fisheries harvests?
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- May/30/22 11:37:04 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, this report was titled “West Coast Fisheries: Sharing Risk and Benefits”, and it provided the government with 20 recommendations.
Has the minister included the committee's recommendations in the government's development of a beneficial owner licensing policy for the west coast?
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- May/30/22 11:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, earlier the minister stated that the government is studying potential steps to establish a beneficial owner licensing policy on the west coast.
Has the minister read the fisheries committee report that examined problems in the DFO licensing and quota regimes on the west coast?
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- May/30/22 11:36:17 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, what level of importance does the minister place on the work of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans?
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- May/30/22 11:33:09 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it was the Canadian shipbuilding strategy established by the previous Conservative government that started the delivery of these vessels. The delivery has been under the minister's government and you are taking credit for a shipbuilding strategy.
How does DFO manage fisheries when at-sea science data is absent?
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- May/30/22 11:32:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, the minister previously stated that she is proud of her government's delivery of Coast Guard vessels, so I would like to ask her about the new offshore fisheries science vessels the Sir John Franklin, Jacques Cartier and John Cabot. These vessels have been plagued with corrosion, premature wear, mislabelling and even a stop-sail order from Transport Canada since entering service between 2019 and 2021.
How much at-sea science and assessment capacity has DFO lost because of the deficient boats delivered by the Liberal government to the Coast Guard?
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- May/30/22 11:31:44 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, how important is DFO's at-sea science to its assessment and management of fisheries resources?
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- May/30/22 11:31:01 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, according to section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, it gives the exclusive legislative authority to the Parliament of Canada in all matters pertaining to fisheries.
Considering that the common resources of Canada's fisheries belong to Canadians, who does the minister think should be the beneficiary of Canada's fisheries resources?
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- May/30/22 11:30:39 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, according to the Constitution, who is ultimately responsible for managing Canada's fisheries resources?
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- May/30/22 11:30:18 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, who owns Canada's fisheries resources?
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- May/3/22 10:22:04 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise today in the House to speak to the concurrence motion on the report from the standing committee, “Aquatic Invasive Species: A National Priority”. It is a great honour to speak to this motion today, as I am the member who proposed that this study be done at the committee, a number of years ago now. This was initially presented in previous Parliaments, and government has yet to respond properly to this report from the committee.
The testimony that we heard during this study was compelling. The results and recommendations that came in this report were unanimous from all members of the committee: Liberal members, NDP members, Bloc members, everyone who was on the committee. Actually, at the time the report was done, there may not have been a Bloc member on the committee. I would have to check. However, it was a unanimous report from the committee.
Many of the recommendations in the report echoed the report from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. That audit of the government's work on aquatic invasive species condemned the lack of work within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, within the government, and its reactions to the risks of aquatic invasive species becoming established in Canada, especially in my province of British Columbia.
In 2004, the Canadian action plan to address aquatic invasive species estimated the combined economic losses directly associated with 16 aquatic invasive species to be $5.5 billion. A U.S. report estimated the annual economic burden of invasive species in America to be $137 billion.
Last year, the journal Nature published a report that estimated that invasive species have inflicted costs of at least $22.8 billion in Canada over the past 50 years. The same report found that zebra and quagga mussels have had a cost of $409 million in the Great Lakes alone since their introduction in the late 1980s.
A 2013 study by the Okanagan Basin Water Board estimated that the introduction of zebra and quagga mussels would cost the Okanagan region $43 million per year just to manage. That does not speak to eradication or any other measures; that is just to manage the species should they become established.
Zebra and quagga mussels continue to proliferate across North America. Since I was elected, I have consistently pushed the government to follow through on implementing and enforcing the aquatic invasive species regulations delivered by the previous Conservative government in 2015.
Zebra and quagga mussels have not been detected in my home province of British Columbia in the natural environment, but they have been detected in vessels, boats coming into the region, by the provincial inspection program that takes place every year. In its annual report, 244 watercraft coming into the province last year were identified as high-risk. Eighteen were issued quarantine periods and 153 decontaminations were ordered. Of the watercraft that came in and were confirmed to have invasive mussels on board, seven were from Ontario, two from Manitoba, one from Quebec, one from Colorado, one from Illinois, one from Michigan, one from Minnesota, one from Missouri, one from Ohio and one from Wisconsin. This shows the incredible risk that is out there if we do not take steps to prevent the establishment of aquatic invasive species where we have pristine lakes and waters.
My riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap spans the boundaries of two different watersheds, two massive watersheds. The Shuswap and some of the headwaters of the Fraser River system are known as one of the best salmon habitat areas in the world.
The North Okanagan part of the region is part of the Columbia River system where sockeye salmon have now been re-established in the Okanagan system. It was a joint project through the Okanagan Nations Alliance and first nations to establish a hatchery in the South Okanagan, which is now bringing salmon back into areas where they have not been for decades.
Going back to the two 2019 reports, the commissioner's report and the report from the committee, they highlighted the fact that the cost of preventing the spread of AIS, aquatic invasive species, is much less than the cost of trying to manage or eradicate them afterward. The only proven way to rid a body of water of zebra and quagga mussels is to drain it, and this is not a viable option for the Okanagan or Shuswap systems. They are simply too massive and there are too many other consequences. It is simply not physically possible. These lakes make this prevention that much more essential, and at this time the stakes and threats of the invasion of zebra and quagga mussels in B.C. have never been higher.
More and more visitors from across North America are visiting my area in B.C. with their watercraft. The Province of British Columbia operates watercraft inspection stations on B.C. borders as part of its invasive mussel defence program and last year, as I mentioned, 17 mussel-fouled watercraft were found coming into the province, risking the spread of zebra and quagga mussels into B.C. waters. The province issued 153 decontamination orders, as I mentioned, and that was only from April 1 to October 24. We know that boats cross the border year-round. There is a higher percentage during those summer months, but it does happen year-round and those inspection stations are not open year-round.
The provincial program is perhaps the most important program for preventing zebra and quagga mussels from entering B.C., but the federal government refuses to provide the support required to expand inspection station hours to 24 hours a day and for a longer period covering the boating season. A single watercraft, one float plane or a pair of hip waders carrying invasive mussels could cause ecological and economic catastrophes across B.C. and western Canada. The government continues to drag its feet when it should have been acting to protect our waters and ecology.
I hope that all members from all parties will recognize the acute threats of aquatic invasive species. This is not something we can continue to kick the can further down the road on. The economic consequences, and the ecological consequences, of simply turning a blind eye to this risk are far too great for the residents and the visitors to my riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap. This is so important for the entire Okanagan, Shuswap, British Columbia and all of Canada.
We have recently noted the federal government put some funding into the national parks program: one small portion of the area that has potential for the risk of infestations and the economic and ecological consequences that are going to fall out of that. We have recently seen where invasive clams were found in Shuswap Lake, near my home. I do not live on the water, but in the lake in my area those invasive clams have been found. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a plan to deal with those invasive clams there. This is now two years down the road since the first discovery of those clams.
Should the same thing happen with zebra or quagga mussels, they are considered to be much more detrimental to the environment. I do not believe the government has done anything to provide a plan to move forward on dealing with the threat of aquatic invasive species. I encourage all members, as we continue the debate on this important issue, to support concurrence on this motion.
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- Mar/31/22 3:00:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is still no answer for workers. With regard to the expropriation of quota from crab and elver fishers, the minister told the fisheries committee that no decisions have been made on either the crab or elver fishery, yet DFO officials have written to crab fishers that the quota cut of 50% was final. They also told elver fishers that the 14% cut was final.
Does the minister understand that this will hurt the industry and kill jobs?
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