New Westminster-Coquitlam MP Fin Donnelly was named yesterday as the NDP critic for fisheries and oceans - a post he has held since he was elected in 2009.
Official Opposition Leader Jack Layton had 103 NDP MPs to choose from for his shadow cabinet to counter Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 39-member cabinet, which includes James Moore, Conservative MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam. Last week, Moore was officially sworn in as heritage and official languages minister.
Speaking Thursday from Ottawa, Donnelly said he was pleased to keep his portfolio and he checked off a number of priorities, including the Atlantic snow crab fishery report, the Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye salmon, the protection of B.C.'s orca whales and genetically engineered salmon.
Other B.C. MPs that received critic roles are Vancouver East's Libby Davies (health); Surrey North's Jasbir Sandhu (public safety); Burnaby-New Westminster's Peter Julian (industry and deputy national caucus chair); Vancouver-Kingsway's Don Davies (citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism); and Nanaimo-Cowichan's Jean Crowther (human resources and skills development).
