Bill S-15 (Historical)

Expansion and Conservation of Canada’s National Parks Act

An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and to make consequential amendments to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001

Part 1 of this enactment amends the Canada National Parks Act to create Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada.
It also amends the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act to prohibit drilling for petroleum in Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada or within one nautical mile seaward of Sable Island’s low-water mark, to restrict surface access rights provided for under that Act and to provide for the issuance of licences and authorizations with respect to activities that may be carried out in Sable Island National Park Reserve of Canada.
Finally, it makes consequential amendments to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.
Part 2 amends the Canada National Parks Act to provide that the dedication of the national parks of Canada to the people of Canada is subject to any Act of Parliament.
It also amends the description of the commercial zones for the Community of Field in Yoho National Park of Canada in Schedule 4 to that Act and of the leasehold boundary of the Marmot Basin Ski Area in Jasper National Park of Canada in Schedule 5 to that Act.

Bill S-15—Time Allocation

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this piece of legislation does extend beyond the headline news, the good news of the creation of a Sable Island national park, and deals with the contemporizing and updating of a number of the management plans with regard to some of our most historic national parks in the western mountains. These changes would all conform with the National Parks Act and with the need to regularly re-examine the various land management plans, the various protections of habitat for the wildlife, the flora and the fauna of these traditional national parks bases, as we will in the decades ahead regularly revisit the management practices the 43rd national park, Sable Island.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I deeply regret that time allocation is being used on this bill. I sympathize enormously with the statement from the hon. member for Halifax. It is critical that we protect Sable Island properly. A Sable Island national park is something we all want, but not at the expense of undermining the integrity of the national parks system by allowing the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to have rights to pass regulations that affect a national park. This is unprecedented.

Contrary to what the minister just said, environmental groups have contacted me from Nova Scotia, deeply concerned. They do not want the bill to pass in its current form, and they want to protect the integrity of the national parks system.

It requires full debate. Abbreviating that debate and pushing it through at the last minute is not only an affront to democracy. It is an affront to the integrity of the national parks system across this country.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I again thank my colleague for her input and her observations.

However, I would remind her, again, that in the consideration of this bill, in the public consultations, including consultations with environmental NGOs and with first nations in Nova Scotia, there has been widespread consensus on exactly how and under what conditions, stipulations and regulations this new national park would be created.

This bill was introduced in the Nova Scotia Legislature on April 24, second reading was on April 25, third reading was on May 6 and it received royal assent on May 10. In debate, the Liberal House leader said:

...we look forward to this bill moving on to the Law Amendments Committee and making its way through the House and...in conjunction with the federal government, we will soon see the official declaration of Sable Island as Canada's 43rd...park.

The same was heard from the Progressive Conservatives, and of course from the NDP government, wishing us well and hoping this could be passed into law and proclaimed this year.

With regard to the agreement with the oil and gas industry, this is in fact a protection of the island. We would not be in this House today considering the creation of Sable Island as a fully protected national park without the initiative and co-operation of the oil and gas sector. They have agreed to forego leases held for some years, potentially lucrative leases.

The agreement provides for the park to extend to the beaches at low tide with a further one nautical mile buffer zone to prevent any offshore activity. The foremost expert on Sable Island, Zoe Lucas, has been very forthright in saying that the limited activity in the past and what will be permitted in the future is of very low impact and is not expected to disrupt either the habitat or any of the species on the island.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I am not very satisfied with the minister's answers. I am also not very satisfied with his characterization of what has been going on here.

The minister knows full well that the NDP has been trying to work with government for the past two weeks to try to get this bill to committee today. We have not held up those discussions or those negotiations. That is not what the NDP has done.

Today we walk in and find out that there is going to be time allocation on this bill. I am telling the minister that this completely undermines any trust we thought we had with the government. It makes me second guess my own judgment here.

How can the minister stand here and say that things have gone off the rails and that discussions have broken down, when he knows that is not true? Why is the government doing this? Why is it slamming an open door in our face? Why does the government refuse to negotiate and work co-operatively to actually get legislation through this House?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, again I thank my colleague for her questions.

I am not going to go into the mechanics of agreements that we thought had been made with regard to the number of speeches from all parties in the House. I will be very direct in saying that there are no surprises in this legislation. The legislation has been very well examined in a variety of fora over the past two years.

It is time now to stand and either vote for the creation of another jewel in the crown of Canada's protected spaces or not.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, my question to the minister is not about why the NDP would decide to delay this when the NDP Government of Nova Scotia has asked us to pass it as quickly as possible. That is a question the NDP members need to ask themselves.

I am someone who has been on Sable Island at least a couple of dozen times. Other than the Minister of the Environment and the member for West Nova, I do not think any other members in this place have been on Sable Island.

It is a unique part of the world. It is a unique part of Atlantic Canada. We are going to have some low-impact activity allowed on the island.

Can the minister explain why this is unique to this agreement?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a unique agreement. As I began to remark earlier, we would not be in a position to celebrate the creation of this new national park were it not for the co-operation and the initiative of the oil and gas sector.

In decades past, there were a number of petroleum wells drilled on this island before the companies were moved to step back, to abandon their leases to the greater interest of conservation in our country. However, there are probably about 10 wellheads of capped-off wells on the island, which because of the constantly moving sands of the island, are from time to time exposed and require inspection.

This is one of the definitions of the light activity that would be allowed. Again, as I said, Halifax researcher Zoe Lucas, who has spent decades on the island and is the foremost authority on the flora and fauna of the island, has said that she has experienced in the past only the absolutely best behaviour of the oil and gas sector, and she expects to in the future.

I know some of my colleagues have expressed concern about this because of their historic definition of the word “seismic”, but there is also provision for the latest in seismic technology, again in conjunction with past wells drilled on the island, to use this new and non-intrusive technology. Again, Zoe Lucas has said that is not intrusive and does not present a threat to either the habitat or the species on the island.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives curtailed debate twice this morning, once again limiting members' speaking time. We want to talk. Enough is enough. There are problems with the manipulation of public opinion. The members opposite are saying we do not want to discuss this issue. Hold on a minute. We do. The minister and the teams are in the process of discussing this matter.

Sable Island is a wonderful place. There was even a film made on this island, where birds come to nest. I think it is called Les oiseaux des prés or something like that. The island also has wild horses.

Of course we completely agree that this island must be protected. Environmental groups and aboriginal people also agree.

Yet where can we discuss this type of issue if not in the House? We must discuss it here, and the Conservatives must stop limiting members' speaking time.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and her observations, and she is right that it is a magnificently unique piece of Canada. I had the great honour just last summer to make my first visit to the island in its entirety. Environment Canada has a major weather station on the island, which would remain on the island as it is transformed into a national park.

There is some cleanup to do from decades past, with regard to an old fuel storage facility and old light towers no longer in use. However, it is indeed a very moving experience to wander the 42-kilometre-long sand spit, some 300 kilometres northeast of Halifax, and observe these wild horses. Whether from vessels coming to North America or Spanish vessels going to Latin America, the precise origin of these horses is unknown. It is amazing that they have survived, numbering several hundred, over these years in such a barren space along with, as my colleague observed, several hundred species of birds and, from time to time depending on extreme weather events, birds and butterflies carried by hurricanes to the island.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, I am amazed to hear the minister and many others before him talk about the beauty of the island and the beauty of his bill, when we should be spending the half-hour that we have talking about the Standing Orders and the 42nd time allocation motion—if I have counted correctly—that the government has imposed.

Over the past several months and even years, we have become used to the fact that the government thinks that the laws and the rules are there for others to follow. When laws and rules do not fit in with the Conservatives' agenda, they change them.

My question is very simple. Should we expect a bill to change the Standing Orders of the House to be introduced in the next few days or can we expect the Conservatives to one day follow the rules?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I have remarked, a debate over procedure in the House is perhaps warranted, but not in this time space. Failing a question to the point, it may be worthwhile to recognize that Parks Canada, over the years, has been widely recognized as a world leader in conservation.

We received the World Wildlife fund gift to the earth for inspiring leadership, conservation achievements. A couple of years ago we received the Royal Canadian Geographic Society gold medal award, with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Dehcho First Nation, for expansion of the great national park in the Northwest Territories, Nahanni.

I was honoured to receive this year the Polar Bear International Champion of Polar Bears award for leadership and conservation work in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba. I am sure that in the decades to come, Parks Canada will receive any number of awards in recognition of this great conservation order.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the Conservatives have botched a number of pieces of legislation by trying to ram them through the House. This is the 42nd time they have invoked closure. I do not think these excuses they have put forward constantly wash with the public anymore.

The member for Edmonton—St. Albert was very accurate when he exposed the seamy underbelly of the corrupt and corrosive government. He talked about ministerial opulence. He talked about the spending scandal. He said that the Conservative Party had morphed into one it once mocked, referencing Liberal spending scandals, arrogance and sense of entitlement that we saw previously.

He said as well, “My constituents are gravely disappointed. My constituents demand better. I no longer recognize the party I joined”. That is the member for Edmonton—St. Albert. There are a lot of Conservatives across the country are asking those same questions when they see the Senate spending scandal and the arrogance of the government invoking closure 42 times.

My question for the minister is very simple. How does he think the government has any credibility to force now for the 42nd time, a sad record of Canadian history, closure in the House of Commons.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for making the effort, but I will speak to the point of this period of time and to the good news, the creation of Canada's 43rd national park.

A number of people have asked me why the Government of Canada would protect such a remote, hard to access piece of sand, a 42-kilometre length of sand so far off of Nova Scotia's shores. The answer is that it is remote. A number of our protected spaces are not easy to get to, but every year, and under the new national parks administration, some 50 to 250 people will be able to visit the island for science, research, light touristic visits, as well as to service and support the Meteorological Service of Canada weather station, which is placed there.

In the past seven years, our government has added over 50% to the land area of protected spaces in Canada. We have now protected about 10% of Canada's total land space. We are working in the months and the years ahead to protect even more of our unique natural spaces.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Barry Devolin]

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time and put forthwith the question on the motion now before the House.

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

No.