Todd Doherty, MP for Caribou, Prince George, joins us to talk about the controversial clam harvest in the Arctic Surf Clam fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the strange procurement process that resulted in a company with a Liberal colleague's brother winning the bid to bid for the fishery.
00:00:00.080Coming up on The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast, we'll be talking to Todd Doherty, the Member of Parliament for Caribou, Prince George.
00:00:07.320We're going to talk today about Clam Scam. Join us.
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00:00:17.240Is the Prime Minister actually saying that taxpayers should be on the hook when he breaks the law?
00:00:25.000What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curb his out-of-control behaviour?
00:00:39.000All these deficits leading to nothing but burying Canadians in taxes.
00:00:48.700And now, here's your host, Tony Clement.
00:00:51.620You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:54.480I'm your host, Tony Clement, the Member of Parliament for Paris, San Muskoka.
00:00:58.440And with me today, I have Todd Doherty, the Member of Parliament for Caribou, Prince George.
00:01:04.640Great to have you on the program, Todd.
00:02:50.200Not only that, but it was a bid that was won without satisfying critical bid criteria.
00:02:58.540Namely, they had to have been able to have multiple First Nations partners.
00:03:03.960They had to be able to demonstrate that they were a First Nation or Indigenous group or company that,
00:03:11.960in saying that, would be shares held by an Indigenous person or group, so a traded company or an incorporated company.
00:03:22.900We know that the winning bid wasn't incorporated until well after, a week after the winning bid was made.
00:03:30.360And the multiple First Nations partners didn't come on until probably three or four weeks after the bid was announced.
00:03:38.780It is also a group that, part of the bid criteria, they had to demonstrate the capacity to be able to operate this fishery in a sustainable way.
00:03:47.580They didn't have a vessel at the time.
00:03:49.660They didn't have a facility at the time.
00:03:50.980They didn't have history with this fishery.
00:04:00.520And not only that, there are just some things that don't smell right.
00:04:04.740We know that one of the winning bid partners, not only was it a, we had a liberal MP's brother that was the president of this company that won it,
00:04:15.540but we now also know that it was a former MP also is going to get rich off of this.
00:04:25.520When you think of procurement, you think that normally those who bid on the project have, it has been ascertained that they have the resources, in this case, the capacity, the boats, in this case, or the nets and whatnot,
00:04:40.720and have met the minimum criteria, in this case, when it comes to First Nations involvement, Indigenous involvement.
00:04:49.380But none of these things were actually adhered to at the time that the bid was submitted.
00:04:54.900And as a matter of fact, the winning bid had just placeholders in their bid, just multiple placeholders, not actually named entities.
00:05:03.440You know, it also speaks to the minister just arbitrarily going into a fishery and just arbitrarily pulling that quota from a business that had invested millions and millions of dollars in that.
00:05:18.400It is leaving the community of Grand Bank absolutely devastated.
00:05:21.820There is work curtailment taking place right now.
00:05:26.040The minister would like to stand up, and the prime minister would like to stand up and say this is all in the face of reconciliation.
00:05:31.560And the reality is it did nothing about reconciliation.
00:05:35.360We know full well that groups that did apply for this bid, multiple groups, there were nine other different entities that applied for this bid process,
00:05:47.060but they were all shut out in favor of liberal friends and family.
00:05:50.520And I expect that Clearwater Seafoods, who originally had the license, are not sitting around just saying, well, this is the way it is.
00:06:00.680No, you know, I think, again, it just speaks volumes that if they can come in and do this to Clearwater Foods, what can this government do?
00:06:08.160And we've talked about it with other bills as well, too, C-55, where it gives further and greater ministerial authority to come in and make these decisions.
00:06:16.660Today, we're sitting with the surf clam decision, where we've seen a minister making a decision just to arbitrarily go in and pull 25% of quota from this group, from this community, is really where the issue lies.
00:06:30.340And if they can do it here, where else can they do that?
00:06:34.240So in terms of, I know that Clearwater is pursuing legal action, is that correct?
00:06:40.060But, you know, to be completely truthful with you, Tony, we have just focused primarily on the jobs that will be lost, the people of Grand Bank.
00:06:48.840You know, the company can fight it out on their own.
00:06:51.740We're standing up for the people that are losing their jobs and the people of Grand Bank.
00:06:55.160And in your sense, you're saying that this is a course of conduct, which you have seen in other cases.
00:07:03.460But this is not just a one-off by the Liberal government, where they have tied the procurement process in knots to get a preferred result that they would like to see.
00:07:13.760Just tell us a little bit more about that.
00:07:15.640Yeah, I think, again, you know, maybe not specifically with the procurement process, but just in policy decisions that they're making as they move forward.
00:07:23.980They like to talk about consulting Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
00:07:27.680But the reality is, you know, today's decision where the minister is now arbitrarily going in and cutting the lobster fishing season to protect the right whales.
00:07:39.900He likes to say that he consulted the Canadians on that.
00:07:42.860We know that the coastal fishers that rely on the lobster fishery for their livelihoods were not consulted.
00:07:49.580Whether it is the tanker moratorium on the Pacific coast or C-55 that is now coming down and will be debated today and voted on today as well.
00:08:01.240That gives the ministers of transport, ministers of fisheries, oceans, Canadian coast guards, greater authority to go in and make decisions that they feel necessary without consultation.
00:08:12.380That should strike the fear in Canadians from all across our nation.
00:08:16.500So this clams scam is more than just about clams then?
00:08:20.600Well, listen, I really appreciate that you're on top of this file because as the fisheries critic and shadow minister, MP Todd Doherty from Caribou, Prince George, is making sure that there is some accountability on some of these issues.
00:08:36.560I know you've asked questions in the House before.
00:08:38.860You will continue to demand that accountability, I'm presuming.
00:08:41.780We will continue to stand up for the rights of Canadians to have their say and to make sure that when it comes to policy that will impact their lives that they have a say.
00:08:51.760Todd Doherty, Member of Parliament for Caribou, Prince George, thank you for being on the program.
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