Editing Brian Tobin (section)

=== In government ===
Following the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 election]] in which the Liberals regained power from the Progressive Conservatives after almost a decade in opposition, Tobin was appointed [[Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (Canada)|Minister of Fisheries and Oceans]].

In the ministry, Tobin distinguished himself from his colleagues with speeches rife with rhetoric and his youthful exuberance. Throughout 1994 he mounted a fierce campaign against foreign over-fishing of waters on the nose and tail of the [[Grand Banks]], located just outside Canada's declared 200 nautical mile (370&nbsp;km) [[Exclusive Economic Zone]] (EEZ). People across Canada took notice of this new and aggressive posture, a position that had not been taken by a federal minister—Liberal or Conservative—since the EEZ was declared in 1977.

Critics{{who|date=December 2023}} note that Tobin was likely doing this to preserve his political life in his home province.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} At this point, Newfoundland and Labrador was wracked{{clarify|date=December 2023}} by rapidly rising [[unemployment]] and social unrest over the fiscal situation which many believed had been caused by federal mismanagement of foreign and domestic overfishing. This had resulted in the 1992 "Northern Cod Moratorium." In April 1995, Tobin's department was embroiled in the [[Turbot War]] (known in Spain as Guerra del Fletán). He received full backing of the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] in the pursuit. Later that month, Tobin conducted an international news conference from a barge on the [[East River]] outside the [[United Nations]] headquarters and dramatically displayed an illegal, under Canadian Law, trawl net that had allegedly been cut from a [[Spain|Spanish]] trawler which was arrested outside the Canadian EEZ, on international waters. The net was over 16 stories high and was hung from a crane causing a media sensation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tobin Fights Fish War at the UN|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tobin-fights-fish-war-at-the-un/|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=December 4, 2014}}</ref> Tobin was accused by the arrested shipmen of ill-intentionally orchestrating a media-oriented frame-up to mislead attention from economic and public image problems Canada was facing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mas.laopinioncoruna.es/suplementos/2010/03/14/heroes-del-estai/ |title=Suplementos de La Opinión A Coruña: Héroes del Estai|date=Mar 14, 2010|website=laopinioncoruna.es|access-date=May 15, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329124734/http://mas.laopinioncoruna.es/suplementos/2010/03/14/heroes-del-estai/ |archive-date=2012-03-29 }}</ref>

Tobin helped organize a pro-Canada rally in [[Montreal]] before the October [[1995 Quebec referendum]]—busing in thousands of university students and other residents from English Canada. For his roles as Fisheries Minister and in the referendum, he earned the nickname "Captain Canada".