THUNDER BAY – Bruce Hyer is questioning the credibility of Greg Rickford, the Conservative MP from Kenora. Hyer was up in Question Period on Friday in the House of Commons.
Here is the exchange from the Hansard of the House of Commons:
Mr. Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay—Superior North, Ind.): Mr. Speaker, two years ago the Conservative member for Kenora crowed about the importance of new dollars for the Experimental Lakes Area. He said, “The Experimental Lakes Area is known world-wide as Canada’s most innovative freshwater research centre. …we are investing in projects like this one–helping to establish Canada as a leader in knowledge creation…”
Will the member for Kenora fight for the research centre that he bragged about recently or just allow his party to toss those investments and his credibility into the Experimental Lakes?
Mr. Randy Kamp (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the member that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will continue to support freshwater research across Canada. That is why, for example, we invested in the Lake Simcoe cleanup fund of $30 million in 2008. We are making very good progress using that money.
While we think that this facility would be better run by an academic private facility, we are going to continue to invest in clean water in our lakes. We are looking forward to facilitating a transfer from this particular facility to a private organization.