(June 16, 2022) – Craig Pardy, PC Shadow Minister of Fisheries and MHA for Bonavista, is calling on the 6 Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Members of Parliament to take a reality check after aiding to the defeat of MP Clifford Small’s Private Member’s Motion on Bill C-251 on the Conservation of Fish Stocks and Management of Pinnipeds Act yesterday afternoon in the House of Commons.

“Yesterday afternoon, MPs Joanne Thompson, Seamus O’Regan, Ken McDonald, Churence Rogers, Gudie Hutchings, and Yvonne Jones had an opportunity to push party politics aside for the betterment of coastal communities across Newfoundland and Labrador. Instead, they failed their constituents and they failed our province on the national stage,” says Pardy.

Pardy says that 5 Liberal MPs voted nay to Clifford Small’s Private Member’s Motion, including Fisheries Committee Chair Ken McDonald, the MP for Avalon. He also points out that Yvonne Jones, the MP for Labrador was absent from the vote.

“Members of our coastal communities across Newfoundland and Labrador are relying on their Federal Members of Parliament to take action immediately to restore the biodiversity of our oceans, restoring a culture and way-of-life, while also bringing this ecological disaster to an end. While our fishery remains in an ecological crisis because of seal overpopulation, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador need their federal representatives to step up in solidarity regardless of political stripe to represent our best interests,” said Pardy.

“The people of Newfoundland and Labrador see the impact that seals have on our fisheries every single day – which has been validated by multiple studies over the decades. They have called on our political leaders to address this crisis – to restore our fishery. Yesterday, they decided that a whipped party vote was more important than representing an industry that is heavily relied upon by their constituents. This is absolutely shameful.”

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Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca