Fisherman's Road

The following letter asking for an investigatation into the management practices of DFO was forwarded recently to the interim Auditor General of Canada. July 18, 2011 John Weirsema, FCA Interim Auditor General of Canada Office of the Auditor General of Canada 240 Sparks StreetOttawa, Ontario K1A 0G6 Dear Mr. Weirsema, I am writing to formally request that the office of the Auditor General of Canada launch an investigation into the management practices of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in relation to commercial groundfish stocks off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Despite 19 years of commercial fishing moratoria, groundfish stocks such as northern cod and flatfish have failed to recover. In fact, some stocks are in worse condition than they were in the early 1990s when the commercial fisheries were first closed. Why? What role, if any, have DFO’s management practices played in the failure of groundfish stocks to rejuvenate? In 1997, the office of the Audito...

An Ottawa reporter asked me today what I think Jack Layton's ill health will mean for the future of the New Democrats. My response (after attending today caucus meeting) was the party will actually become stronger, more united. Our rallying cry: Do it for Jack.

Speaking on the steps of the Colonial Building on Sunday (July 24) to kick off the annual St. John's Pride Parade. Below is the text of my speech. ••• Happy Pride! When you run in an election campaign and speak with people on their doorsteps, you get to know what’s on their minds. The diversity of opinions. What they’re concerned about. What they’re worried about. What the issues are. What the biases are. And you get a handle on the kind of changes we need in society — the things we need to work on. From pensions, and how — often — they’re not enough to live on. To health care, and how — just as often — people have to make choices between prescription drugs and food, for example. You name it, you’ll hear it on the doorsteps. I’ll give you one example of a day on the campaign trail in late March while knocking on the doors of a street in the west end of St. John’s. This is what I heard on the doorsteps of Canada Drive . I heard people say they don’t like Steph...

Earlier this week, I published a blogpost that described European nations — the same nations the federal Conservative government is negotiating a secret free-trade agreement with — as having “fished out/raped” the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Indeed, I went so far as to call the EU countries “serial rapists.” I received some criticism for my choice of language. I first used the term "serial rapist" in a Sept. 3, 2006 column for the then- Independent newspaper, headlined A fishing story . The column follows … ••• Attention Newfoundlanders out for a fight — this column’s for you. You may have read a news piece this week about a Portuguese trawler cited for illegal fishing. The Independent had the story nailed down but it broke in another media before we could get it to print. Normally the story would have been dropped altogether at that point, but the article’s author missed a critical point. Wait for it … The Joana Princesa was caught with its pants dow...

July 1st, Lest we forget: Caribou Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel, dedicated to members of the Newfoundland Regiment who lost their lives on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. July 1st, Happy Canada Day — the nation's 144th birthday. A day of duality. ••• It wasn’t so much a sunrise ceremony this morning at 6 a.m. on Signal Hill, as a “fog-rise ceremony,” as one person put it. Most people wore raincoats (hood up, pulled tight) or winter coats, which haven’t been put away just yet. At least it wasn't snowing. The trumpet melded in with the foghorn, and the Ode to Newfoundland was powerful. Caplin weather can be lovely. ••• Today is Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador, the most solemn day of the year. Today is also Canada Day, the country’s 144rd birthday — a day of celebration. The tragedy for Newfoundland at Beaumont Hamel, France during the First World War is often overshadowed by the nation’s birthday. At midday we’re supposed to swit...