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Results: 151 - 165 of 1644
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-04-23 15:01 [p.18609]
Mr. Speaker, our government stands with the people of Grand Bank. On a number of occasions, I have had the chance to talk with my colleague who represents that community in the House of Commons. In fact, we have plans to work with the community of Grand Bank to ensure that the processing jobs are protected, and to ensure that our commitment to the people who work hard in those plants is respected.
What is surprising is that the hon. member uses a word like “expropriation”, which he knows has absolutely no application in this case. In fact, his previous government had a process to bring a new entrant into this fishery, and they were not worried about the people of Grand Bank then.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-04-23 15:02 [p.18609]
Mr. Speaker, naturally, our government shares our colleague's concern about the safety of the personnel working on the Kathryn Spirit and sympathizes with the communities that are worried and want to see the Kathryn Spirit gone. That is why we have invested massively to make that happen. A small fire occurred in the machine room of the Kathryn Spirit. The contractor has confirmed that plans of the work site and the emergency plan were personally given to Beauharnois' director of fire and public safety on December 14, 2017.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-04-18 15:10 [p.18479]
Mr. Speaker, we do not need to conduct an investigation. We need to dismantle the Kathryn Spirit, and that is exactly what our government is doing.
We recognize the risks that vessels of concern pose to shoreline communities and the marine environment. As my colleague knows full well, a small fire broke out in the machine room of the Kathryn Spirit during work to dismantle the vessel on April 10. No one was injured, and no pollution was observed. That is what is important to us. We also think it is important to quickly dismantle the Kathryn Spirit, and that is what we are going to do.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-04-18 15:12 [p.18479]
Mr. Speaker, I can give my hon. friend points for imagination, but I cannot give him points for sticking to the facts with what happened.
The fact that there is a new participant in this lucrative surf clam fishery should not surprise the Conservative Party. In fact, that party began a process three years ago to do exactly that, include a new entrant. What the Conservatives forgot to do was to include indigenous communities.
We are very proud that the most impressive economic benefit to indigenous communities and Atlantic Canadians came from a group that included indigenous partners in five provinces: four Atlantic provinces and Quebec. We chose the best proposal and we are proud of that.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 13:55 [p.18082]
Mr. Speaker, I hope you will agree with me that it is somewhat ironic to have a Conservative member stand in this House and object to the use of time allocation or shutting down debate.
One of the reasons our government committed to Canadians in the 2015 election to restore the lost protections and bring modern safeguards to the Fisheries Act was that the previous Conservative government evacuated the protections from the Fisheries Act by burying it in an omnibus bill, with no debate at all, with time allocation at every stage. Not only are we reinstating those protections, but we are also looking forward to listening to Canadians and parliamentarians as we improve this important legislation.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 13:57 [p.18083]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for Port Moody—Coquitlam for his and his party's initial support of this legislation. We look forward to working with them and other parliamentarians in committee to see if the legislation can be improved.
As I said when I spoke in this House, as we did with respect to the Oceans Act, Bill C-55, we are constantly looking for suggestions from Canadians, from other parliamentarians in this House and in the other place, for constructive ways we can strengthen this legislation. That is a process we look forward to having in committee. That is why we think it is important for this legislation to progress to committee where the committee can hear from Canadians, environmental groups, associations representing fishers and harvesters around the country. Of course, we look forward to working with parliamentarians as the legislation gets scrutinized in committee and comes back to this House.
I said the same thing in the other place when I had the chance to go to question period there, and it is something that I am happy to repeat here today.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:03 [p.18101]
Mr. Speaker, in fact, not only are we fully confident in the legislation and proud of the amendments we have proposed to the Fisheries Act, we look forward to having the legislation thoroughly analyzed and scrutinized in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. We hope the committee will hear from Canadians, from those interested in offering suggestions of how the legislation perhaps could be improved.
The only thing we are seeking to do is restore the loss of protections deleted in the legislation in 2012 and incorporate modern safeguards. That is a commitment we made to Canadians in the election of 2015, and we think this legislation is exactly how that should be done.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:05 [p.18101]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands for her support of the legislation. As I have said many times, we would be open to working with her and with all members of the House with respect to specific suggestions that would improve the legislation.
I agree with the member that the inclusion of the provisions around taking of cetaceans for captivity was inspired by the work done by the Senate, by Bill S-203, and former senator Wilfred Moore from the province of Nova Scotia. My colleague from Saanich—Gulf Islands, having studied law at Dalhousie University as did Senator Moore, would understand the importance of getting the right balance in legislation that keeps up with what we think is the widely held sentiment of Canadians.
With respect to the member's specific suggestion of those amendments, I would be happy to work with her to see how the intent of Bill S-203 and the substantive elements of that bill could be incorporated into amendments in the Fisheries Act. I look forward to having that conversation with her and with any other colleague.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:08 [p.18102]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam for his insight into this legislation. I think we have a lot more in common around this bill and the things we think are important to protect. There are perhaps a few areas where we may not be exactly of the same mind.
With respect to the importance, I know West Coast Environmental Law and a number of groups have talked to me and have done excellent work on what is a fairly new area around protecting environmental flows with respect to fish and fish habitats. It certainly had not been something, as I understood, that might have been contemplated 20 or 40 years ago when the House or our previous Parliament would have been ceased with amendments to the Fisheries Act. I have said publicly, and I will say it again, that I would be happy to work with him and other colleagues if they have specific suggestions of how we can better strengthen those provisions.
It is time that concept be incorporated into what is important environmental legislation, the Fisheries Act. I would welcome the chance to work with colleagues on those improvements.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:09 [p.18102]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Avalon for his advice and for his insight into the fishery industry in his province of Newfoundland and Labrador. I have had the privilege to work with him. In fact, we met two fishers from his constituency who were in Ottawa last week. It is an opportunity for me to work with a colleague who is committed to the sustainable growth of the fishing industry in his province of Newfoundland and Labrador. There was a number of very innovative ideas of how we could improve the livelihood of the women and men who depended on that resource.
One of those elements for our government was incorporating the principle of owner/operator and fleet separation in the legislation, giving those long-standing policies force of law in Atlantic Canada and in Quebec. On the east coast of Canada, these policies have been part of the economic survival and economic future of coastal communities and those dependent on these resources. We want to ensure that the real ownership of these fishing licences remain in the hands of professional harvesters, professional fishers, not in the hands of some corporations that seek indirectly to do what they cannot do directly. We are very proud of that improvement. Again, we will work with colleagues who have ideas on how we can strengthen that.
Some colleagues from other parts of the country have talked to me about this policy and how it could in fact apply to their areas. We look forward to those conversations as well.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:12 [p.18102]
Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Chilliwack—Hope for his passion in resisting these parliamentary procedures that would, in fact, bring legislation to committee.
In the last Parliament, when we were the third party in opposition, as the hon. member properly noted, I used to think that notes were left in the desk to my right or written perhaps on the lid of the desk from the former Conservative House leader.
Our commitment was to restore lost protections and incorporate modern safeguards in the Fisheries Act. We think we have found the right balance in the legislation in these amendments. We do not pretend there are not ways that perhaps it could be improved. I have had conversations with colleagues from the Conservative Party, from the New Democratic Party, and with colleagues in my own caucus.
As we have seen in recent days, the Conservative commitment to having constructive debate on legislation should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt in light of the events of last week and earlier today. We thought it was time to get the legislation to committee and allow it to do its important work.
We look forward to those conversations with colleagues at committee. Perhaps our colleague from Chilliwack—Hope will come to those committee sessions. I hope to be invited to attend the committee meetings and we can continue this important conversation there.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:15 [p.18103]
Mr. Speaker, my colleague referenced owner/operator. As I said in my response to my colleague from Avalon, this policy has been an essential part of the economic opportunities afforded to coastal communities on the east coast in Atlantic Canada and in Quebec. We have been encouraged by representatives of fish harvesters from all provinces on the east coast to strengthen these measures. I hope the amendments we propose in Bill C-68 are part of that work.
With respect to the west coast, I, too, like our colleague from British Columbia, have met with representatives of fish harvesters on the west coast, including indigenous communities. They have talked to me about the importance of them gaining greater ownership of the instruments that will allow them to be much more in control of the economic development of their communities. It is certainly true of indigenous nations, and they have different rights to access the fish than perhaps others
However, I would be wide open to having a conversation with my colleague from Port Moody—Coquitlam, but also other colleagues from British Columbia, including those in my own caucus, about how some of the benefits of this policy could be applied to British Columbia. I do not pretend that it is as simple as installing those provisions directly in the legislation, but he talked about a consultative process. The legislation is deliberately designed to be permissive so should British Columbia and the industry there want to look at this kind of legislative instrument, the provisions in the bill would be there, and we would look forward to those conversations.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:18 [p.18103]
Mr. Speaker, we certainly recognize the importance of consultation with indigenous nations as we develop amendments to something as important to these communities, and to the people in these indigenous nations, as the Fisheries Act.
Two weeks ago, in my hon. colleague's province of British Columbia, I had the opportunity to meet with representatives of four of those indigenous nations. I am proud that over 200 indigenous groups submitted suggestions and ideas for amendments to the Fisheries Act during the consultative process our department undertook.
Some of the essential elements of Bill C-68 are deliberately designed to enhance that nation-to-nation partnership with indigenous people. For example, we are proposing new provisions in the Fisheries Act that would require the minister to consider adverse effects that decisions made under the act may have on the rights of the indigenous people of Canada. As affirmed by section 35, the minister would be obligated to consider, when making decisions related to fish habitat protection and pollution prevention, provisions in the act related to the traditional knowledge of the indigenous people of Canada. There are provisions to protect the confidentiality of the traditional knowledge provided to the government, except under very specific circumstances. There are provisions that would enable the minister to establish advisory panels, which would obviously include representatives of indigenous nations.
We think the legislation would modernize the nation-to-nation relationship our government is seeking to have with indigenous nations, which begins with the recognition of rights. That is something my colleagues, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, have talked publicly and to the government about for many months. We think the legislation goes exactly in that direction.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:21 [p.18104]
Mr. Speaker, I share her concern. The New Democratic Party says that this has taken a great deal of time and that it is anxious to get this legislation before Parliament and before Canadians. I have had this conversation with my colleague and friend, the fisheries critic for the New Democratic Party.
We brought this legislation in at the earliest opportunity, having widely consulted with Canadians. For example, over 170 meetings were held with indigenous groups. We received over 200 submissions. I personally received hundreds of letters. A total of 5438 e-workbooks were completed by Canadians online and submitted to our department. The fisheries and oceans committee had extensive consultations in its review of the changes made to the 2012 Fisheries Act. The committee heard over 50 witnesses and had 188 written briefs submitted. It had over 15 meetings.
We think it is important for this legislation to be before the standing committee, where members can hear from Canadians and hear from those who have shared with our government so many positive, interesting, and innovative ideas for strengthening this legislation.
We look forward to working with all colleagues in the legislative process, both in this House and in the other place. I had the opportunity to share that exact sentiment with a number of senators last week.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
2018-03-26 16:24 [p.18104]
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets for her work on committee and for her advocacy on issues important to all Canadians, such as the very difficult question of abandoned derelict vessels. Her views have been shared with our caucus and our government consistently and have led to some of the significant improvements we have made. We have more work to do, and we will continue to do that work with all members of the House of Commons.
One of the things our colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets has talked to me about consistently is improving small craft harbours, which are important economic engines not only in her communities in Nova Scotia but right across the east coast, the west coast, and obviously, Canada's north.
Her specific question on consultation is important. One of the things we did when we were contemplating amendments we were going to propose to the Fisheries Act was to be inspired by the reaction of Canadians to the 2012 changes, which were included in omnibus budget legislation and were pushed through the House of Commons in record time, without adequate scrutiny.
We took two years to listen to Canadians. We received thousands of submissions from across the country. Those changes and the work of the standing committee informed the amendments we made. We are proud of these changes we are proposing to the Fisheries Act.
Results: 151 - 165 of 1644 | Page: 11 of 110

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