The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased again to be able to stand and present a petition in the House of Assembly. I would like to read that petition into the House for the record.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the shrimp industry is in crisis for both harvesters and processors; and

WHEREAS previously there was protection for Gulf shrimp plants and plant workers through a regional processing restriction mechanism called ("the cap") which prevented landed shrimp from being trucked for processing beyond the region where it was landed; and

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the government to:

Reinstate the regional processing restriction ("the cap") in order to preserve the principal of adjacency for shrimp processing, and to ensure that employment opportunities are protected for plant workers and the overall viability of communities in the region.

And as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this petition covers a very important topic, one that has great significance to, I would suggest, the people of the Northern Peninsula, but also, I am sure, people of other regions of the Province as well, where they see their raw material, the raw resource, the fishery and different species coming into their communities. It is a very common sight to see a vacuum truck, if we want to call it that, or a vacuum operation that basically just removes all the fish from the particular vessels. It is put in fish tubs, it is put on trucks, and within a very short time, what can be a great employment opportunity in the area is now leaving and heading into another plant. As Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, certainly none of us have an issue with sharing wealth, none of us have an issue with each other getting gainful employment, but the problem comes, Mr. Speaker, when it is leaving a town where there is no employment.

I see that first-hand on the Northern Peninsula, in my district and in the district adjacent to mine, where these fish plants are located, where these petitions are coming from. The difference between driving into Anchor Point and seeing a fish plant processing shrimp, or driving into Anchor Point and seeing a plant shut down, Mr. Speaker, it is the difference between life and death, so to speak.

I spoke with a lady just yesterday who last week worked sixty-six hours in the fish plant, made herself $900-and some odd, was very excited to have gotten that type of week’s work, all because the raw resource was kept in the region. It is not to suggest that none went out as well, but certainly, if this restriction is not put back in place, if there is not some control so that regionalization of the raw resource, of the material is brought into play, then, Mr. Speaker, we are uncertain from one week to another as to what employment opportunities there will be.

We are in the heart of this fishing season. The crab fishery is going well, the shrimp fishery is going well in the Gulf, in particular, and it is just so important that it is managed properly and that no more leaves the region than absolutely needs to, to secure the well-being and the financial well-being of the residents.

So, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to stand again today to put this forward. It is not my petition; I am presenting it on behalf of members, some in my district - quite frankly, most of them are in the Member for St. Barbe’s district, yet they are asking me to come in here today and present this petition in this House. I know that as of yesterday many more signatures were being gathered on the highway, I saw it. Two RCMP vehicles were providing escort to two ladies, standing in the rain, gathering signatures to go with this petition. Mr. Speaker, it is an issue and I trust it is one that we will see action on very soon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.