Cons agree fishery is broken, no word on how to fix it

I posed the following question in the House of Commons on Monday, Nov. 21st:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has finally admitted what the rest of us already know – that the fishery is broken.

The five years of Conservative mismanagement - after a decade of Liberal negligence - cannot be reversed by tearing up the Fisheries Act.

Firing scientists, laying off fisheries staff and turning out the lights will not put fish back in the sea or food on fishermen's tables.

The fishery is broken.

Will the Conservative government finally support our fishing communities and put forward a concrete plan to fix it?

The following is Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield’s response:

Mr. Speaker, we know that the average age of our fishers is increasing, the same for our plant workers, and a declining number of new entrants into the fishery.

It is a serious situation, one that we can change through modernization and efficiencies in the Department of Fisheries and in the fishery itself.

If we are to make any difference in the future of the fishery, we have to make changes today.

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