Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  It was for one reason: that the bill introduced the possibility of criminalizing seafarers.

Environment committee  After listening to Johan, I don't think so. But if I understood the question correctly, I think what we focused on was what we thought were the big problems for us in this bill. We're not saying we're for the bill, and we're not against it, but we're only saying that this bill will provide problems for us in knowing where we stand, knowing where our operators stand.

Environment committee  Absolutely.

Environment committee  Yes. Well, that's a situation where the United States federal government has certain regulations that follow international law and unfortunately the State of New York decided to come out with a regulation on ballast water that was different from the federal and international standards.

Environment committee  Thank you. With respect to the first question, in international shipping, as it is described, the ships go all over the world and trade all over the world, so they need to be assured that the laws are fairly standard throughout the world. Through a UN agency called the International Maritime Organization, there are laws made about the operation of ships and the like, and the Canadian government follows the international laws and comes out with their own laws to go along with the international laws.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, thank you for having agreed to hear us today on Bill C-469. You received the English and French version of our short brief several weeks ago already. My intent today is not to reread out loud a document you have probably already looked at.

Finance committee  I will ask Mr. Lantz to answer that question.

Finance committee  No. We said we could either build nine of them offshore for $330 million, or build them here for $990 million. Those are estimates. I doubt there's the capacity here to do it, but that's not the point. The point is that the coast guard has a fleet of 18 vessels involved in icebreaking in the Great Lakes, the St.

Finance committee  Exactly. You have a fleet that needs to be renewed.

Finance committee  I think that's for the government to decide. You have a bunch of ships out there that need to be replaced. It's either that or you don't replace them. As the coast guard said, unless they get more funding they won't be able to provide the services they do to so many people--industry, Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, and many others.

Finance committee  We're the shipowners.

Finance committee  I don't think they missed it; I think there were other priorities that they felt were out there, and I guess the government had priorities for polar icebreakers up in the Arctic. Also, I think it's a question of funding: where are they going to get the money from? So we're here to ask on their behalf for funding so that they can put together a plan.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  It's a rough estimate, but I guess the easiest way is that to build a ship overseas, there's cheaper labour, more volume, and better facilities to build these kinds of ships. Whether we even have the capacity here to do it is another question, but there's a big difference in the--