Lawrence MacAulay
Liberal
Mr. Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan) moved:
That in the opinion of this House, the government should protect public safety and help fishermen by making all necessary repairs and performing all necessary maintenance to all small craft harbours facilities throughout Prince Edward Island.
He said: Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to bring forward Motion No. 585 on behalf of the fishermen of Cardigan, Prince Edward Island and in fact on behalf of all the fishermen of Prince Edward Island.
I was born and reared in a small community on the north coast of Prince Edward Island. We made our living in farming and on the sea.
I have a basic understanding of the problems that fishermen go through. I am well aware that fishermen start at three or four o'clock in the morning. They head out to sea having no idea what kind of conditions they are going to face during the day or what it is going to be like coming back into the wharf in the evening.
It is very important that proper funding be put in place to put the small craft harbours in safe condition for the fishermen.
The fishing industry is very important to Prince Edward Island. In 1991 the landed value in my province totalled about $70 million. Over 7,400 people are employed in the industry with over 5,000 working in the harvesting sector.
The fishing industry has grown by over 500 per cent since 1975. Unfortunately however, the funding for repairs to small craft harbour facilities certainly has not grown by any percentage since that time.
The 5,000 people who work in the harvesting sector rely on the adequacy of the small craft harbour facilities throughout Prince Edward Island. They rely on the wharfs as a place to tie up and do their work. They rely on the breakwaters to provide shelter from the sea. They rely on the harbour channels for safe passage.
If things are not kept in their proper order, fishermen and their families start to worry. Sadly when it comes to small craft harbours there has been much more worry and concern than repairs to the harbours over the last number of years.
It is because of this worry that I have sought that work be done on small craft harbour facilities in my riding and all across Prince Edward Island. I have lost track of how many letters I have written to various ministers of fisheries since I was elected. I have stood in my place during Question Period and posed questions to the various ministers of fisheries which were put to me by fishermen who well understand the problems they face every day.
I have made many members' statements concerning different problems with the harbours across Prince Edward Island. I have presented many petitions in the House, which were put together by the fishermen who understand exactly the problems they face.
Unfortunately throughout all of this the government has really done little or nothing for the small craft harbours on Prince Edward Island. The purpose of my motion is quite clear:
That in the opinion of this House, the government should protect public safety and help fishermen by making all necessary repairs and performing all necessary maintenance to all small craft harbours facilities throughout Prince Edward Island.
May 31, 1993
Private Members' Business
As a member of Parliament this is the last tool I have in order to try to convince the minister of fisheries, the government and anybody else involved to come to their senses. The appropriate dollars must be put in place so that the small craft harbours are safe for fishermen to return to from their work so that their lives are not in jeopardy.
I would like to talk about two of the many wharfs in my riding. I know them quite well. The minister of fisheries should also know them quite well because I have written to him many times concerning them.
In March 1989, five months after I was elected, I wrote to the minister of fisheries, now the minister of Indian affairs, about the conditions at Savage Harbour. The wharf and breakwater were damaged and DFO had promised for years to do some of the work but nothing had been done.
One of the biggest problems at Savage Harbour is the breakwater, better known in that area as the black wall. In the late summer of 1988 I went out with a number of fishermen and was shown what the problem was with the breakwater.
I received a letter from the minister. Short-term repairs would cost about $75,000 and would secure the structure for at least two to four years. A more permanent solution would cost an estimated $700,000. Had the government listened to the fishermen, there would have been no $700,000 bill at all. If it had spent the $75,000 and listened to the fishermen, it would still have the black wall and the breakwater, and the wharf in Savage Harbour would be safe. Unfortunately however it would not listen to the fishermen or to me.
In March 1992 I wrote to the present minister of fisheries relaying the concerns of the fishermen that the entire structure might be destroyed. Fishermen were worried about their boats and their lives. In his response last November the minister stated: "My department is aware of the conditions at Savage Harbour. It is impossible at this time to find the funding to repair the breakwater". The $75,000 that was needed to repair this breakwater could not be found.
Six months later in response to two more letters from me the minister stated: "The estimated cost for the repairs at this location is $50,000 and funding is not
available at this time". This is concerning the wharf at Georgetown and $50,000 was not available.
In November 19901 sent my fourth letter in 12 months to the minister. I outlined some urgent repairs that fishermen wanted done at a cost of about $40,000.1 went on to tell the minister: "Neglecting the need for immediate repairs would most likely result in an increase of costs by several hundred thousand dollars". By not doing the needed repairs immediately, most likely the cost would escalate from a small figure to a very large one, as we see it did.
The minister responded a few months later, in March. This was after some winter damage, which shows exactly what can happen. The minister stated: "The funds required to complete this project which would be from $250,000 to $1 million are significant in a period of budgetary restraint and it is difficult to secure them".
It is difficult to secure them all right. The minister could not find $75,000 or $50,000. All of a sudden it goes from $250,000 to $1 million. The people in Georgetown must have a wharf. In the span of one year the government and small craft harbours lost about $1 million by not doing the job that was supposed to be done.
The fishermen find it difficult to understand and hear about budgetary restraint. When they see things like this happening, they cannot understand what path the government is on.
On numerous occasions the present Minister of Employment and Immigration made it clear he would not allocate the necessary money for small craft harbour facilities in my riding. Despite this, in 1990 he did manage to find over $8 million for wharf's in the riding of the member for St. John's West, the present Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
Over 10 per cent of the entire small craft harbours' budget in that year was spent in one riding. Still the $50,000 needed to repair the wharf in Georgetown could not be found, but $8 million was found. The people in Georgetown are Canadian citizens too.
There are a lot of issues involved in small craft harbours. There are questions of safety. The environmental impact of these dilapidated wharfs must be looked at. As well, there is the issue of basic fairness and how dollars are spent across the country. Fishermen are just looking for basic fairness.
May 31, 1993
If a harbour channel is not dredged, a fisherman is in risk of running aground when returning from a day on the water with his boat loaded down. If a breakwater is in disrepair, rough seas make it more dangerous to come into port. If a wharf is not in good order, a boat can be damaged just trying to pull up and off-load.
A prime example would be in Fortune Cove over the last few years. The wharf on the east side started to fall to pieces. The faces were falling off into the water. This made it very dangerous for boats to pull up. Boats could be lost or damaged with a large financial loss to the fishermen.
Fishermen realize their profession is a dangerous one. Harbours were once considered to be a safe haven from the dangers of the seas. However some fishermen I know have a greater fear of their wharf and breakwater than they do of the sea. Over the past few years a couple of wharfs in my riding have been condemned by DFO as being unsafe for use. For example, Eastern Graphic indicates the wharf at Machon Point as being dangerous and unsafe for public use.
What are the fishermen supposed to do? Where are they supposed to tie up? Where are they supposed to do their work? There is not enough room at the wharfs as it is and they are told at Machon Point that they cannot use it. I do not know what fishermen are supposed to do.
Part of MacAulay's wharf was below the water line. I wrote to the minister indicating the problem on December 14, 1989: "A section of the wharf is sinking. It is completely submerged at high tide. There are two fuel tanks located on this section of the wharf and diesel fuel is leaking from them into the harbour".
I feel it will be only a matter of time before a life is lost because the government has not lived up to its duty and looked after small craft harbours.
Some wharfs in Prince Edward Island also pose a threat to the local environment. I know a couple of cases where fuel tanks on the wharfs have started to leak into the water. I warned the minister of fisheries about the fuel leaks at MacAulay's wharf. The reason there was a problem at MacAulay's wharf was because the funding, and the small amount it would have taken at the time,
Private Members' Business
was not forthcoming. As the problem escalates and the wharf starts to settle, of course there is greater damage.
If a boat were to sink because of poor harbour conditions, the loss of fuel would have an impact on the sea birds as well as polluting the nets and lobster traps, not to mention that we might lose the lives of some of our fishermen or women. People often do not take the time to consider these things. The possibility is real and so is the threat to the environment.
The response to all of my letters and petitions has been one constant theme. All the ministers of fisheries have stated that there is not enough money in the pot to fund every project needed and that the work necessary in my riding is not high enough on the priority list, or our fishermen's problems are not high enough on the priority list.
Let us look for a minute at how the government did decide to spend the money over the last number of years. In the fiscal years from 1987 to 1992 the Department of Fisheries and Oceans spent about $13.5 million on more than 70 wharfs in Prince Edward Island. In those same years the small craft harbours spent over $24 million on just over 40 wharfs in the riding of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Shame.
It has been suggested to me that reshuffling the dollars was sort of like robbing Peter to pay Paul. However if Peter is getting by far the most it is only fair that Paul gets a chance for a while. Our fishermen feel just like Paul. They are getting robbed continually.
How are fishermen from places like Fortune, Sturgeon or Wood Islands supposed to feel when they see the money pouring into the riding of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans while their wharfs and breakwaters deteriorate?
As well, it seems that the government can find lots of money before elections but not very much afterward. Before the 1988 election, the government managed to find $2.4 million for small craft harbours in my riding. By 1991 that figure had been reduced by 80 per cent. About the only hope we have in Cardigan and Prince Edward Island is if we had an election every year. We could spend lots of money if we had an election but slice it right after. That is not the way maintenance is done. Maintenance must be done every year.
May 31, 1993
Private Members' Business
Of course the Liberal members of Parliament from Atlantic Canada know the exact same thing happened with the money from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. For a government that is so preoccupied in dealing with the deficit, it is strange that it will not spend a bit of money on maintenance.
Thke the example I used earlier in Georgetown where a $50,000 repair job became about a $1 million reconstruction job in one year, and all the government had to do was listen to basic common sense.
It is very difficult to tell fishermen that we are trying to save dollars and are in a restraint program. My constituents tell me that $50,000 is needed but the government says it does not have it. A year later, after the wharf was damaged by ice, and when we knew that the ice and the wind over the winter would do the damage, the bill became $1 million. It makes very little sense.
Even if the government had borrowed the $50,000 it would have been further ahead. Now it will have to borrow or come up with a million dollars to fix it or Georgetown will not have a wharf.
If one owns a house and the roof leaks, one fixes the leak. One certainly does not wait until the House falls apart to do something about it. If so, one does not have a roof over one's head. That is the same situation with the wharfs in my riding and on Prince Edward Island. They would not fix the roof so the house fell in.
Despite all the economic reasons and reasons about fairness, the issue of small craft harbours has one basic concern: safety. Fishermen should feel safe when they come home for an evening. I feel that if the minister of fisheries was actually a fisherman or had a son or daughter who made his or her living from the sea he would better understand the worry in the hearts of the loved ones when they know that the harbours their husbands fish out of are not safe. No argument about priority lists and budget cutbacks could ever satisfy a grieving family if a loved one was lost.
If the government does not do something soon to improve the conditions of the small craft harbours on Prince Edward Island something tragic will happen. The government certainly will not be able to say it did not know anything about it.
I and other members from Prince Edward Island have stood in Question Period. We made statements. We have all written to ministers.
Subtopic: SMALL CRAFT HARBOURS
Sub-subtopic: MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS