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November 14, 1997
(Development and Rural Renewal)

Minister calls on TAGS Commons Committee to visit areas hardest hit

Beaton Tulk, Chair of the Committee on Rural Revitalization and Minister of Development and Rural Renewal, today called upon George Baker and his Commons Committee to visit all of the areas hardest hit by the groundfish moratoria in order to get a full understanding of the situation.

"It is my understanding that the committee may not have scheduled time to visit many of the communities most devastated as a result of the groundfish moratoria," said Mr. Tulk. "It is imperative that the committee make the time to visit communities on the Northeast Coast, the Northern Peninsula and the South Coast of Labrador, and talk to the fisherpeople most drastically affected. When TAGS runs out in 1998, thousands of people in hundreds of rural communities will be left with nothing. These are the people the committee must hear from. These are the people who have the biggest stake in what happens next."

Mr. Tulk also called on the committee to focus on the issue of TAGS, and what the moratoria has done to rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

"While issues like conservation, foreign overfishing and fisheries science are extremely important, this committee must turn their attention to the immediate problem," said Mr. Tulk. "That is, what happens to the thousands of fisherpeople when TAGS runs out next year."

The Commons Committee is due to begin hearings in the province the week of November 23, 1997.

Contact: Office of the Minister, (709) 729-4729.