Fisherman's Road

I posed the following question today (Oct. 31st) in the House of Commons.  Mr. Speaker, funding for East Coast businesses from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency declined by a whopping 25 per last year alone — 25 per cent .  Businesses in Atlantic Canada haven't suddenly lost their need for support, the Conservatives have lost their willingness to support Atlantic Canada.  Except, of course, when it comes to the patronage trough. Mr. Speaker, why are the Conservatives leaving the east coast behind?  Why is this government not committed to ACOA? Bernard Valcourt (Associate Minister of National Defence and Minister of State, ACOA:  Mr. Speaker, the honourable member is wrong and fear-mongering.  If he wants to compare apples to apples and look at investment for economic development, he should take into account stimulus measures that were meant to deal with the recession and the unprecedented level of federal investmen...

I had only a single thought just before striking a moose on the western edge of Terra Nova National Park Sunday evening — if it goes through the windshield, I’m dead.  I didn’t see the moose until it was immediately in front of me, meters away.  It was as if my brain took a snapshot of the second before impact: I took in with absolute clarity how the moose didn’t have antlers; how the animal was almost as dark as the highway itself; and how it had a huge belly. “Moose must be eating well these days,” I thought.  I was driving between 75 and 80 kilometers an hour in mist and heavy fog and I didn’t see the moose until it was practically in my face.  The highway was clear.  Then there was a moose.  There was no time to swerve, barely time to hit the break. The Jeep struck the moose broadside and the animal tumbled over the hood before summersalting over the windshield. There was an Echo traveling behind me and the occupants — a mother, fa...



OTTAWA – MP Ryan Cleary (St. John’s South-Mount Pearl) is calling on the Canada- Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) and its new chair, Ed Drover, to follow through on a recommendation for a separate independent safety regulator for the offshore. Justice Robert Wells has described the need for an independent safety regulator as the most important recommendation from his inquiry into the March 2009 crash of Cougar Helicopters Flight 491 that killed 17 people. Justice Wells reiterated that stand this week in media interviews. “It’s been over three years since the crash of Cougar 491 and we’re still waiting for the federal Conservatives and the C-NLOPB to act on this recommendation — shameful,” says Cleary. “Max Ruelokke has said there’s no need for an independent safety regulator, and for that reason I’m glad he’s the outgoing chair. Let’s hope Ed Drover sees things differently.” Cleary says the C-NLOPB is in a conflict of interest. The board is respo...

  As critic for Post-Secondary Education, I posed the following question today (Oct. 25 th ) in the House of Commons.  Mr. Speaker,  Collectively, Canada's students are on the hook to the federal government for more than $15 billion of debt. A record high.  That does not include private debt, such as bank loans and credit cards. With that kind of debt load, how will this generation be able to contribute to the economy? The Canadian Federation of Students has a plan to cut student debt in half by 2015. Will the Conservatives work with us, the New Democrats, students, and their families to reduce student debt? Diane Finley (Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development):  Mr. Speaker,  In the process of job creation, we actually ensure that we have people with the skills and talents to fill those jobs.  That is why our government has been proud to streamline and improve Canada's student loan program....

 Trying on a pair of seal-skin boots at Natural Boutique, Water Street, St. John's, NL. “From a science perspective, science is really reaching the limits of what it can confidently and credibly predict would result from a cull of grey seals. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to do it … would not be a science one but will have to be based on something else.” — Dr. Jeffrey Hutchings, Dalhousie University, as quoted in a Senate report released this week that recommends a cull of grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  “The Committee believes that scientific uncertainty should not be stopping DFO from taking action.” —  A direct quote from the Senate report, The Sustainable Management of Grey Seal Populations: A Path Toward the Recovery of Cod and other Groundfish Stocks .  ••• The Fabian Manning Senate report on grey seals recommends that Canada should pay hunters to kill 70,000 grey seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as a means to help ...

“It’s officially gone tinfoil in Petty Harbour.” — A tongue-in-cheek Alan Doyle of his solo album, Boy on Bridge . ••• Doyle performed this week at Hope Live , an annual gala event held in Ottawa to raise money for Fertile Future, a national charitable foundation that provides fertility preservation for cancer patients. The event — one of the most popular of the year in the nation’s capital, attended by dozens of MPs and cabinet ministers — has a distinct NL flavour, featuring the talents of Rick Mercer and Seamus O’Regan. Heidi Bonnell, the event chair and one-time right hand to former Premier Brian Tobin, also hails from NL. Tobin, in fact, was in the audience, sitting alongside former Liberal PM Jean Chretien. At one point, Mercer joked that he was planning to run for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, which brought Tobin and Chretien to their feet in apparent support. Singing alongside Jann Arden and Dan Mangan, Doyle, the face...

I asked the following question today (Oct. 17 th , 2012) in the House of Commons Mr. Speaker, The Conservatives continue to cut ACOA while keeping a political appointee on salary. The Public Service Commission ruled against Kevin MacAdam's appointment, the appointment of the Minister of National Defence's buddy. Now the Conservatives' only defence is to quote from court documents filed by Mr. MacAdam himself. If the Conservatives are so confident that the Public Service Commission report backs up their claims, why do they not release the report in full? Gerald Keddy (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and for the Atlantic Gateway, CPC): Mr. Speaker, The answer is pretty simple. This is not a political issue. The public court records— Some hon. members: Oh, oh! The Speaker: Order, please. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade...

  I posed the following questions today (Oct. 16 th ) in the House of Commons. Mr. Speaker, The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has felt the cut of the Conservative knife . Over 100 jobs, eliminated; millions in grants, slashed; regional development agencies, starved. But Conservative patronage appointee Kevin MacAdam still has his job , even while he spent years doing French, collecting a salary and living expenses from Canadian taxpayers. The Public Service Commission ruled that this pork patronage broke the rules, so why is the former aid to the minister of National Defence still drawing a salary and living expenses from Canadian taxpayers? Gerald Keddy (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and for the Atlantic Gateway): Mr. Speaker, I answered this question yesterday. The answer is the same today. This is not a political issue, but if the member wants to che...

   I delivered the following one-minute statement today (Oct. 16th) in the House of Commons.  Mr. Speaker,  There’s a debate taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador over whether to resume helicopter night flights to offshore oil platforms on the Grand Banks.  The Wells Inquiry into the March, 2009 crash of Cougar Flight 491 — which killed 17 workers — recommended that night flights be suspended until all risks are mitigated to an “ACCEPTABLE LEVEL.” The offshore oil companies have just delivered a report that recommended a resumption of night flights.  But that report says there’s still a DEFINITE higher risk at night than during the day.  Workers on offshore oil platforms say that risk is TOO high.  Their families say that risk is TOO high.  The MOST IMPORTANT recommendation of the Wells Inquiry was for an independent safety regulator for the offshore oil industry. An independent safety regulator — NOT the o...

Outside Fort McMurray Monday (Oct. 8th) in front of some outdated oil sands machinery with Steve Drover, vice-president of CEP Local 707, representing unionized workers with Suncor.  There are no hard-and-fast statistics, but word on the street here is that up to half of Fort McMurray’s 105,000 residents are made up of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Or Newfies for short.  I’m no fan of Newfie, but here on the ground in Fort Mac it’s what Newfoundlanders call themselves.  So, as a Member of Parliament passing through, I don’t argue or disrespect.  There are an incredible number of pickup trucks everywhere — four-wheel drive rigs covered in thick dust.  The traffic on the highway to the oil sands just out of town is almost bumper-to-bumper at 6 a.m.  The average salary in the patch is $100,000 a year.  Where at home there’s the hint of salt in the air, in Fort Mac there’s a hint of oil, although it’s much stronger by the oil sands,...

I posed the following question Friday (Oct. 5th) in the House of Commons. Later the same day, the Harper government quietly relented  in the face of bruising criticism that changes it recently made to Employment Insurance were punishing those who could least afford it. ••• Mr. Speaker, a rising unemployment rate and a higher deficit are not something to cheer about. I would like to relate a Tim Hortons moment gone bad involving a man who helps keeps minor hockey alive in my riding.  Robert is age 63 and he has worked at a hockey rink for over 35 years.  He has collected Canada pension since he turned 60 and collects EI for the months the ice is off the rink.  Come January, Robert's Canada pension will be clawed back 50¢ on the dollar from his EI cheque. Why is the government so set on punishing seniors? Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development:  Mr. Speaker, the fact is we have done more ...

Sunday, Sept. 30, was the last day of the food fishery  in waters  off Newfoundland and Labrador —  and a great day on the water it was.  Cliffs and sea stacks near Bay Bulls. A fine catch. Filleting cod on the shore of Bay Bulls with Loyola O'Brien. Peter Lewis paints on the water's edge.

The following letter to the editor is published in today's edition (Oct. 1st) of The Telegram.   When it comes to unprocessed fish, the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture seems to have an inconsistent policy. On the one hand, the province has rejected a request by Ocean Choice International (OCI) to ship unprocessed fish out of the province.  On the other hand, the government has allowed out-of-province buyers to purchase sea urchins directly from fishermen in Newfoundland and Labrador.  How does that make sense? But that’s not the only confounding question.  Fisheries and Aquaculture announced in August a review of the sea urchin industry to “determine whether the industry has sufficient processing capability and harvesters have sufficient outlets for their catch.” Currently, there’s only one licenced sea urchin processor in Newfoundland and Labrador — Wood-Pick Enterprises, based in Wareham, Bonavista Bay. The kicker her...