Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In January 1993, the Standing Committee on Finance requested that Economic Development and Tourism develop a fisheries plan emphasizing potential for increased processing in the NWT. This task was used to tie together several initiatives and programs which were under development at the time, which would form a strategy for the development of the Northwest Territories fishing industry. On January 17th of this year, I indicated to the standing committee that the strategy was being finalized.
On February 8th, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans tabled a report entitled "Review of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation." The recommendations in the report place the future of the corporation in doubt.
The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation was originally created to consolidate production from many small isolated fisheries under a single agency, to increase the selling power of the fishermen and to increase their returns. The corporation was given a near monopoly over the processing and marketing of freshwater fish from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario. There are strongly divergent views in the industry on the "single desk" selling mandate of the corporation.
The parliamentary committee recommendations, if accepted by the Government of Canada, will bring an end to the freshwater fish market as we know it today.
The committee recommends that in the short term provisions should be made for fishermen to opt out of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Fishermen opting out would then be able to sell their fish to other companies.
In the longer term, it is recommended that the federal government enter into negotiations with the provinces and the Northwest Territories and other stakeholders, with the objective of transferring responsibility for processing and marketing freshwater fish from the FFMC to each jurisdiction now covered by the corporation. As jurisdictions implement programs for marketing and selling fish, it is recommended that they be exempted from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Act. When all jurisdictions have programs in place, no later than the 1997-98 fiscal year, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Act would be repealed and the FFMC would not longer exist as a Crown corporation.
Accordingly, for the present, existing policies and programs will be maintained. Subsidies to the winter fishery on Great Slave Lake will remain as set, at 10 cents per pound. The subsidy for the summer fishery will be set in the spring.
The Government of the Northwest Territories will consult with the fishermen on the committee's report and respond to the federal government. When the direction of the federal government is clear, we will return to the development of the fisheries strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause