I possed the following questions to Marc Gregoire, Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, on Tuesday, Dec. 10th, when he appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Mr. Ryan Cleary (St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NDP): Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the officials for appearing before the committee. My first question is for Mr. Grégoire . One of your answers to one of the questions from across the way was about the number of spills in the run of a year that you deal with. I believe you used the estimate between 1,200 and 1,400. I want to talk to you about a specific spill, one off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, off Change Islands back in 1985, 28 years ago. It's been mentioned a number of times in the House of Commons. It was a ship called, the Manolis L. Are you familiar with the ship? Mr. Marc Grégoire : Yes. Mr. Ryan Cleary: There have been a number of attempts since July when that oil leak was disc...

I posed the following question on Thursday, Dec. 5th, to Justice Robert Wells, who  headed the inquiry into the crash of Cougar Helicopters Flight 491 offshore Newfoundland. Wells appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources, which is holding hearings into Bill C-5: Offshore Health and Safety Act.  Mr. Ryan Cleary: Thank you, Peter. I have just one quick question. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, are both responsible for safety.  They are responsible for the environmental impact and industry regulation. Now, some people, critics—and I know you've addressed this in your report as well—say that creates a potential conflict, a perceived conflict. My question is wouldn't an independent safety regulator address that conflict where C-5, this offshore health and safety act would not? Hon. Robert Wells: It could. I don't think this occupational ...

I posed the following questions to Lana Payne, Atlantic Director of Unifor, on Monday, Dec. 9th, before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources, which is holding hearings on Bill C-5 (Offshore Health and Safety Act).  Mr. Ryan Cleary (St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NDP): Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the witnesses. My questions are for Ms. Payne. Ms. Payne, Justice Robert Wells appeared before this committee last week, and one of the questions I asked him was whether the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board or the Canada-Nova Scotia Petroleum Board could be in a potential conflict of interest, because they're responsible for overseeing the environment, industry regulation and health and safety. His exact response was, “It could”. You also mentioned in your presentation a potential conflict. I want you to comment on that. But also I've got a part (b) to this question. In recommendation 29 from Justice ...

On Thursday, Dec. 5th, David Bevan, Associate Deputy Minister of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans to answer questions re the fish component of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The following is the text of the questions I posed to Bevan: Mr. Ryan Cleary (St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NDP):  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses. In Newfoundland and Labrador this trade deal is generally seen as a good trade deal. I know as a young journalist for years covering the EU shrimp tariffs, for example, into the EU were incredibly detrimental to our seafood industry. We have the association representing seafood processors; we have the Fish, Food and Allied Workers' union representing fishermen, plant workers, and trawlermen ; we also have the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Kathy Dunderdale administration, all behind t...

The following article appears in the final/December issue of The Scope , an independent alternate newspaper that focused on local arts, culture and affairs in the St. John's core. The late, great RAY GUY once wrote that over the course of his journalistic career he had up to a dozen horses/publications shot out from under him. So, in the summer of 2008 when The Independent newspaper was forced to close, he tried to offer some cheer to the editorial crew that mourned the loss of our beloved mount. Only there was little cheer to be found, and the only encouragement Ray could muster was to write that he knew what we were feeling. “Who was it said: ‘I feel your pain.’” I have always admired the independence and clarity with which The Scope has served and informed its readership.  It quickly evolved into the downtown St. John’s paper. Indeed, all of us turned to The Scope for advice on where to go and what to see — it captured the community’s...

Mr. Speaker, I stand in opposition to Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures , for two main reasons. First, content, and, second, process. With respect to content, this budget implementation bill impacts much more than the Conservative budget. This is an omnibus bill. The word “omnibus” is derived from the Latin and it means “for everything”. The Conservative government has thrown practically everything into this omnibus bill, as is its habit. This is the fourth omnibus budget implementation bill. This omnibus bill would amend 70 laws or regulations in one bill. That is a massive amount of content. How is a member of Parliament, how is an opposition expected to thoroughly analyze and study all the amendments in this one bill, especially with the introduction of time allocation? I will come back to that in a moment. That particular Conservative tactic des...