Thank you for being here today, Minister. I wanted to ask you for the third time about Bill C-69 and how important it is for municipalities, but sometimes we have to shift our priorities based on current events. I can guarantee my colleagues that the question that I’m going to ask does not come from a national caucus. It’s my question, and it has to do with the American company AquaBounty Technologies, which announced this morning that Environment Canada approved the first commercial production facility for genetically modified salmon in Canada. It will be located in Prince Edward Island. If I had found out about this yesterday, I would have thought it was an April Fool’s joke.

The department ignored the precautionary principle and the opinions of consumers who overwhelmingly reject this technology and authorized AquaBounty to produce 250 tonnes of genetically modified salmon a year. Canada has thus become the second country in the world to authorize the commercial production of genetically modified salmon.

In my opinion, this decision will tarnish the image of the Canadian fishery in the eyes of our European partners. It is also of great concern to the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet communities in the Gaspé and Lower St. Lawrence, the senatorial division that I represent. This decision threatens their way of life. They are worried that genetically modified salmon will contaminate wild salmon stocks.

Why did the government approve the production of genetically modified salmon when Canada doesn’t have mandatory labelling to help consumers make informed choices and when there’s been no consultation about regulating the production of genetically modified animals for human consumption? I think that’s a very important part of the process.