“Big corporations and foreign buyers are pushing local fishers out of business on the west coast. The east coast protects independent fishers, but the west coast does not. I want the government to protect local west coast fishers, make fish quota ownership public, and stop foreign and corporate ownership.”

“Mr. Speaker, on the west coast, commercial fish harvesters, the people actually doing the fishing, are being pushed out. Corporate concentration and growing foreign ownership of licences and quota are driving up costs and draining wealth out of coastal communities. We do not even know who owns much of this quota because there is no public registry. Meanwhile, on the east coast, an owner-operator model protects independent fish harvesters and keeps the value in local communities. It is like we are living in two different countries. When will the Liberals fix this and bring in a west coast owner-operator model, increase transparency and stop foreign and corporate ownership of our fisheries?”