Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Hunter Tootoo is being urged by his department in new briefing documents to help it rebuild its scientific capacity after it was gutted by the former Harper government.
The federal department, responsible for protecting Canada’s
fisheries and oceans and promoting sustainable development, told Tootoo
in the internal briefings that several of its divisions suffered more
than $150 million in cuts to annual budgets under the former government,
including a struggling Canadian Coast Guard service.
Coast Guard in dire straits
At the same time, the briefing notes touted recent trade agreements,
including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, saying they were
offering growth opportunities for Canadian fisheries exports.
The Fisheries and Oceans Department has important responsibilities to
engage and support Indigenous communities as well as to help protect
endangered marine species such as beluga whales. But the warnings
demonstrate one of the challenges the newly-elected government will face
as it seeks to control Canada’s rising $18 billion federal deficit in
its upcoming March 21 budget, while protecting Canadians and supporting
the economy.
The department, which employs more than 10,000 public servants across
the country, including about 4,800 in the coast guard, warned the
minister that the science section was particularly in dire straits due
to an aging workforce and poor recruitment.
“Our infrastructure is aging, expensive to maintain and risks falling
below international standards,” said the briefing notes, released to
National Observer through access to information legislation. “New
resources have been topic specific — aquaculture, world class tanker
safety — etc; core fisheries and oceanographic monitoring resources have
atrophied. Our challenges with storing and managing data are growing.”
The world class tanker safety initiative was introduced by the
previous government as a special program to improve response
capabilities to an offshore oil spill in response to public concerns
about potential disasters arising from proposed new pipeline and oil
export projects. It was introduced with new federal spending at a time
that the government was making significant cuts to its scientific
research capacity, including the destruction of scientific records and
books kept at federal fisheries libraries.
Although the department still has a $1.9 billion annual budget, the
briefing notes said the Harper government had cut annual spending on
management of fisheries and ecosystems by $87 million or 17.7 percent.
It also cut annual spending used to manage ecosystems and oceans science
by $39.5 million or 16.3 per cent, Tootoo was told.
The former government also eliminated the department’s funding for the Experimental Lakes Area,
a world class research site, that did major research shaping recent
environmental laws to tackle problems such as acid rain and pollution
from detergents, and which was also conducting new studies on topics
such as climate change. Its operations are now managed by a
non-government research organization — the International Institute for
Sustainable Development.
Meantime, the coast guard, responsible for protecting public safety
on Canada’s waterways, saw its annual budget reduced by $61.4 million,
or seven per cent, the briefing notes said. These cuts were occurring as
it was facing increasing demands for its service, including in the
Canadian Arctic, while coping with an aging fleet.
“CCG faces challenges managing service expectations within available
budget,” said the briefing notes. “It relies on temporary funding and it
also sacrifices needed investments in fleet and shore-based
maintenance-related spending in order to shift resourcing to meet
operational demand.”
The briefing notes said that the coast guard’s vessels and
helicopters “operate in some of the most challenging conditions on
earth” and “need modern and reliable vessels to deliver programs and
ensure the safety of crew.” It said there was an “urgent need” to
replace the aging fleet, with many vessels operating well beyond their
expected life service, including the CCGS Hudson, a ship in service for
52 years, despite a lifespan of 40 years.
TPP could boost fisheries exports
The briefing notes also promoted new economic opportunities for
Canada, touting the benefits of the Trans Pacific Partnership and
encouraging Tootoo to support other new trade agreements to make it
easier for growing fisheries and seafood exports.
The department estimated that the industry employed 80,000
Canadians and had seen its annual exports grow 25 per cent in the last
five years up to $5 billion due to reduced tariffs from new trade
agreements.
“Market access and growth opportunities are expanding as a result of
tariff elimination under Canada’s free trade agreements and Canada’s
strong reputation for seafood sustainability and quality,” said the
briefing notes.
It also said that the controversial TPP, that has been criticized by
New Democrats and labour unions for weakening environmental protections
and threatening some agriculture producers, could result in about $24
million in industry savings for fisheries exports to Japan and Vietnam.
The department suggested Tootoo could use his position within Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet to advocate for deepening trade
relations with India and China, as promised in the Liberal party
election platform, to boost the fisheries industry.
“As minister, you are well-positioned to attest to how Canada’s
fisheries are managed in an effective, science-based and sustainable
manner and thus position Canadian industry to benefit from new trade and
market access opportunities,” the briefings said.
Tootoo was also warned that there is growing competition for ocean
spaces as the “blue economy” expands. This is also creating other
challenges for Canada with “continuing cumulative environmental
degradation in the marine environment and pressure to meet domestic and
international marine conservation targets of 10% protection by 2020,”
said the briefing notes.
Trudeau gave Tootoo, along with some other new Liberal ministers, a
mandate to review major changes to Canada's environmental laws that were
introduced by the previous government.
The briefing notes said that there were major changes to the
Fisheries Act, which is the main federal law protecting water and
fisheries.
But sections of the briefing notes that highlighted challenges and
opportunities associated with future actions regarding environmental
protection rules were censored by the department, under provisions of
the law that allow the government to withhold details of advice to
government and cabinet secrets.
DFO coast guard by mikedesouza
