Fisherman's Road

Question Period was an eventful one today in the House of Commons. Liberal MP Justin Trudeau made national headlines for calling Peter Kent, the federal Environment Minister, a “piece of sh-t,” and yours truly got in hot water for calling the minister of Fisheries and Oceans a “bully.” “Bully” is supposedly unparliamentary language (whereas “a pig with nothing but a squeak,” as one person informed me via Twitter, is not unparliamentary). I had no intention of calling Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield a bully. But in response to a question from NDP MP Fin Donnelly about how scientists are afraid to go public with concerns about cuts to Fisheries and Oceans, the minister asked, “Do I look like a bully?” It then just happened to be my turn to ask a question, resulting in the following exchange: Mr. Speaker, the answer to the minister's question, is “Yes sir, your department and you, sir, are a bully.” Some hon. members : Oh, oh! Hon. Jim Flaherty : He looks like a bully. Ki...

I posed a question last week in the House of Commons about why ACOA would approve a $1-million loan to a company that creates fish plant jobs in China? Turns out ACOA wasn’t alone in handing money to Ocean Choice International (OCI) to develop new technology to process yellowtail flounder – the very same species the company now wants to ship to Asia. The Newfoundland and Labrador government also kicked in cash. I submitted three questions to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency last week regarding OCI. The questions and official responses are found below: 1) How much was drawn on the loan to OCI? In June 2010, in response to a project proposal from OCI, ACOA announced a provisionally repayable loan of $1,000,000 towards the application of water-jet cutting technology to process yellowtail flounder at the company’s plant in Marystown. A total of $750,000 was disbursed by ACOA. The total cost of this project was $2.5 million, with OCI contributing $1.24 million, and the provincial go...

I posed the following question today in the House of Commons: Mr. Speaker, Yet another well-connected Conservative has received a patronage appointment. This time it's Reginald Bowers heading to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. The board is responsible for resource management, environmental protection and safety concerns in the industry. Here's the rub: Mr. Bowers has little to no experience in the offshore oil and gas industry. Apparently managing a successful Conservative campaign is experience enough. When will the Conservatives take the development of Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore resources seriously , and stop appointing friends. The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Natural Resources. Order, please. Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources): Mr. Speaker, Our government is appointing capable advisers. The Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board individual in question has decades of experience in regional econo...

Dec. 12th is an eventful day in Newfoundland and Labrador history. On this day in 1942, 99 people died in the Knights of Columbus fire on Harvey Road in St. John’s. There’s a theory that the fire was likely an incidence of enemy sabotage orchestrated by agents of Nazi Germany. The local musical troupe, Uncle Tim’s Barn Dance, was on stage that night. Uncle Tim was actually the stage name of my great-grandfather, Bill Duggan, whose two sons were on stage with him (Derm and Gus Duggan). Gus, a member of the Newfoundland militia, died in the fire. Years later, my mother was playing near the site of the former K of C hostel when she found a set of dog tags, owned by her uncle Gus. A vigil is planned for 11 p.m. tonight at the K of C monument on Harvey Road. ••• Today is also the 26th anniversary of the Arrow Air crash in Gander. Canada’s worst aviation disaster killed 256 military personnel and their crew. The chartered plane crashed seconds after it lifted off following a refueling stop ...

On Thursday, Dec. 9th, the second hour of debate took place in the House of Commons on my private member’s bill – the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery Rebuilding Act. The following is my 5-minute speech. A vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 14th. Mr. Speaker, There has been a major breakthrough in the fisheries since the introduction of my private member's bill, Bill C-308, the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery Rebuilding Act. The breakthrough took almost 20 years. It took tens of thousands of job losses, the biggest layoff in Canadian history. The breakthrough took unparalleled out-migration from the outports of Newfoundland and Labrador. The breakthrough comes after untold suffering and hardship, and a devastating blow to our heritage, a blow that still threatens our culture. The breakthrough is the long awaited acknowledgement that the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery is broken. The word “broken” has been used in recent weeks to describe the state of our fisheri...

I posed the following questions Friday, Dec. 9th in the House of Commons. Mr. Speaker, Yesterday in this House, the Associate Minister of National Defence described a flight on a search and rescue helicopter from the fishing camp as, “a very routine kind of endeavour, indeed.” Routine is taking a taxi to an airport. Routine is taking a taxi to work. I would like to ask the associate minister exactly what he means by “routine?” How frequently does the minister use a search and rescue helicopter to get back from vacation? Response from Chris Alexander (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence): Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence was on leave, at his own expense. He was called back to work on very short notice. Government aircraft were used in this case for government business. Every rule, much more exigent, demanding rules, for the use of government aircraft was followed. This is a government that has reduced the use of government aircraft by 80 per cent com...

I posed the following question Wednesday, Dec. 8th in the House of Commons. Mr. Speaker, It seems that under the current government's watch ACOA has been throwing money away. It gave a $1-million loan to Ocean Choice International to process yellowtail flounder in Newfoundland and Labrador. But, at the same time, that company inked a deal to send the same fish to China for processing. Why would ACOA approve a loan to a company that creates fish processing jobs in China? Why is it not funding those jobs here at home? Response from Gerald Keddy (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Atlantic Gateway): Mr. Speaker, I am trying to follow the logic in the question. I expect maybe the honourable member will have a rebuttal, but I think he is actually taking about the loss of fish-plant jobs in the Marystown plant. Certainly, if that is what he’s discussing, he has to understand that ACOA is here in Atlantic Ca...

I gave the following statement today (Dec. 7th) in the House of Commons. Statements must be a maximum of one minute in length. Mr. Speaker, The public contempt over the Defence Minister’s use of a search and rescue helicopter as a personal taxi … And there is real contempt back home in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker … Not so much over the misuse of a government aircraft - that’s almost routine ... Not even because the Defence Minister misled Parliament … What’s most unforgivable about the minister’s embarrassing actions is that they take away from the real story … That being the search and rescue response times of the Cormorants: 30 minutes during working hours; 2 hours during evenings and on weekends. Can you imagine a fire department operating with one response time for the day, and another for the night? The emergency response times of the Cougar helicopters that service the offshore oil industry will soon be 20 minutes around the clock. I can tell you this, Mr. Speaker, t...

Fishing – Agriculture’s Poor Cousin Confederation’s dismal failure: chronic fishery mismanagement Newfoundland MP Ryan Cleary’s bill would start rebuilding process The following article is printed in the November issue of The Monitor, a publication of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives . The second hour of debate on Cleary's Private Member's Bill - the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery Rebuilding Act - is scheduled for this Thursday, Dec. 8th, in the House of Commons. By Helen Forsey It has been called “managed annihilation”, “Confederation’s greatest failure”, “a national embarrassment, a national shame.” The demise of the cod fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador two decades ago is now legendary as an environmental and economic disaster. Nineteen thousand fishers and plant workers laid off indefinitely, another 20,000 jobs directly impacted – the biggest layoff in Canadian history. And yet, for most mainland Canadians the loss of the Northern Cod is at most a distant...

I learned an important lesson while taking part in my first Santa Claus parade as a Member of Parliament: avoid walking next to a 6-foot Grinch with foot-long droopy fingers. The Grinch will steal the show/Christmas every time. A politician can barely get a wave in edgewise. The Mount Pearl Lions Club Santa Claus Parade drew thousands on Saturday, thanks in large measure to the fabulous weather. Most popular question I was asked along the route: “Were you dropped off by a search-and-rescue helicopter?” Which was a shot at Defence Minister Peter MacKay . People aren’t impressed, it’s fair to say, with the minister’s choice of taxi. The quote of the day came when I mentioned to a woman how it was a lovely day for a parade. “Every day is a lovely day in The Pearl,” the woman said. And so it is. Smiles stretched the entire length of the parade route, and continued long past the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony later in the evening. ••• The Once and guests performed S...

Defence Minister Peter McKay used one of the military's search and rescue Cormorant helicopters for a personal taxi from a Gander fishing lodge in 2010, but he wouldn't grant me a tour of 9 Wing Gander because it might interfere with the base's "operational tempo." What a joke.