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THE ISSUE
It sometimes seems the Liberal view of Canada is the view from Toronto’s CN Tower or Ottawa’s Peace Tower. Disputes over fishing rights just never seem to get resolved. It is time for a government that focuses on the needs of fisheries – a traditional industry that remains vital to Canadian prosperity. A Conservative government will stand up for fishermen, and workers and families whose livelihood depends on the fisheries.
THE PLAN
Conservative priorities for fishermen include assisting fishermen and giving more control over fisheries to the provinces.
The Conservatives will assist fishermen by scrapping the capital gains tax for transfers of fishing assets within a family. Tax provisions already provide a $500,000 exemption for such transfer for farmers and woodlot owners. A Conservative government will extend this exemption to fishermen and apply it to the value of fishing licences.
The Conservatives will also give the coastal provinces – particularly Newfoundland and Labrador – an increased role in the management of the fisheries. The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly has requested greater involvement in the management of the fisheries around the province. This has been strongly supported by the province’s Conservative MPs.
Additional details of the Conservatives’ plan include investing more in fisheries science and research; establishing an independent judicial inquiry into the collapse of sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River in British Columbia; and extending the 200-mile limit to the edge of the Continental Shelf, the nose and tail of the Grand Banks, and the Flemish Cap in the North Atlantic, and exercising Canadian custodial management over this area.
THE CHOICE
The Liberals have mismanaged the fisheries on both coasts and failed to give local control over this local resource.
Only a Conservative government will take our fisheries seriously. Stephen Harper will stand up for workers who depend on fishing, and he will give more control over the fisheries to our fishermen.
