Clifford Small

Thank you, Madam Chair. I heard Mr. Morrissey accusing our side, the Conservatives, of having an agenda. We don't have an agenda. This document production order was done on behalf of fishing industry stakeholders who feel threatened and feel that their family livelihoods are on the line. They feel that offshore wind is going to displace their livelihoods and push them off the fishing grounds [more]

Madam Chair, with all due respect, right whales were mentioned 18 times in the documents that we've had produced. The impact on right whales of offshore wind development is very serious. Fishermen get blamed for the demise of right whales, so I'm asking Mr. Vigneault if he thinks that this matter was adequately addressed in the report.

You have areas there that are already protected areas. Sable Island Bank is about to be protected. Why did you not have in the report that areas that are now marine protected areas should remain protected areas, given what the fishing industry has sacrificed? Why are you not saying that protected areas are unsuitable for wind development?

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is for Mr. Vigneault again. Given that Emerald Bank—I know it's not included in this report, but it's a marine protected area—and parts of Sable Island Bank are to be protected, what features of the ocean floor are being protected at Sable Island Bank?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think right whales were mentioned 18 times in the documents we have. Mr. Vigneault—

I think right whales were mentioned 18 times in the documents we have. Mr. Vigneault, do you think the issue of right whales is adequately addressed in this report given the conservation measures that fishermen throughout Atlantic Canada have undergone?

Okay. Let's talk a bit about transparency. We have emails from the department where a reference is made to not using all the information supplied by the fishing industry, and that this might be “uncomfortable”. What would be so uncomfortable about providing all the information that was supplied by the fishing industry in creating this report?

Yes, I know. Thank you, Chair. Mr. Vigneault, how many groundfish migrated annually through the Scotian shelf and were harvested in the Scotian shelf before the collapse of the 1990s? Do you have that figure?

Your own scientists said in the early 2000s that northern cod in Newfoundland was commercially extinct and would remain commercially extinct. Why is there no expectation that environmental conditions could change? This is a very small snapshot in time that we're dealing with when we look at grounds that have produced livelihoods and food for five centuries. Hopefully, there's a lot of history [more]

Mr. Vigneault, I'd like to examine the effects of the construction and operation of these wind farms on whales. What studies have been done on the effects to whale migration? What studies have been done on this for the construction phase?