Fmr N.L. minister named ambassador for fisheries conservation

[Gerritt]

By TARA BRAUTIGAM

 

 

 

 

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (CP) - The federal government resurrected a 10-year-old posting Thursday by naming former Newfoundland finance minister Loyola Sullivan its new ambassador for fisheries conservation.

 

The appointment ignited immediate outcry from critics who accused the federal Conservatives of political patronage.

 

Sullivan announced his retirement from provincial politics a month ago, triggering speculation he was considering a jump to the federal scene.

 

"It's something you never rule out," Sullivan said Thursday, adding he was approached with the job offer about two weeks ago.

 

"You don't know what the future holds."

 

Sullivan's departure from Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams's cabinet coincided with plans by the federal Fisheries Department to bring back the ambassador job, said federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn.

 

"We had just started to have a chat about who might be a good fisheries ambassador when, lo and behold, Mr. Sullivan becomes a free agent," Hearn said.

 

But opposition members called the appointment an about-face for a party that prides itself on transparency.

 

"For a government that says they're so accountable, why was this done in such a veiled secrecy?" said Liberal fisheries critic Scott Simms.

 

"The only ambassador you really need is the prime minister."

 

The House of Commons should have been consulted before Hearn appointed Sullivan to the role, added NDP fisheries critic Peter Stoffer.

 

"Why does an ex-Conservative finance minister of Newfoundland and Labrador all of a sudden get a job as an ambassador of fisheries?" Stoffer said.

 

"Usually positions of that nature, if they are to be created, should go through a peer process and . . . not given to political friends in this regard."

 

The new post comes with a salary ranging from $130,000 to $160,000 and an annual budget of $500,000. It was eliminated in 1996 under the previous Liberal government, officials with the federal Fisheries Department said.

 

In his new role, Sullivan will represent Canada at international meetings on a range of fisheries issues, including fish stock management and enforcement of fishing rules set by the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

 

Hearn said the position is warranted given Canada's growing concerns with overfishing and high European tariffs.

 

"I can't be running around the world meeting with ministers every few days or as each issue appears," Hearn said.

 

"We're in a minority situation. We have a lot of other things, as you know."

 

Hearn also brushed aside suggestions the job was an attempt to lure Sullivan to Ottawa.

 

"Of course, not at this stage, because I need him to work with me to do the job that he has to do," Hearn said. "Now if somewhere down the line a federal election comes along and there's an opening, what a great fella to have with you."

 

Critics are doubtful that new regulations established by NAFO last fall will mean much on the high seas, where illicit fisheries have ballooned into an industry valued at an estimated $9 billion worldwide.

 

But Hearn has maintained the reforms have deterred overfishing off Canada's East Coast.

 

Sullivan, a former teacher and businessman who once owned two fish-processing companies, entered provincial politics in a 1992 byelection and was re-elected four times.

 

He held a number of different posts in the legislature, including party whip, house leader and interim Tory leader. He was named finance minister in 2003.

[Roy]

Ya. Well, to make a long story short, it ends up being Captain Highliner, in the library with the fishstick.

[Gerritt]

Hahahahahhahaah!!!

 

 

LOL

 

Gerritt.

[bigfish1965]

I guess this is just for Ocean fisheries? And neither party should point fingers over patronage.