Mr. Speaker, I am quite pleased to rise today even though I only have three minutes. I will try to be as concise as possible and speak clearly during the time I have today.
This bill is of interest to me and must surely interest all my colleagues, even though we have not heard many members from other parties speak to this issue today.
In all my discussions, the issue of protecting workers comes up often. This is an important issue for me and, I am sure, for the people of Sherbrooke as well. The protection of workers will always be a priority.
My colleague from Rivière-du-Nord talked about the reality of offshore workers. There are many difficult aspects to this work, because the conditions are unbelievably tough. They are not the kind of conditions we have on dry land. Conditions are extremely dangerous in offshore areas, which are located hundreds of kilometres from shore.
Simply getting to an oil platform is a difficult, perilous undertaking. Then, once you are on the platform, it is even more dangerous, not only because of the activities that go on there, but also because of weather conditions.
A bill like the one we are discussing here today is therefore crucial. Overall, it is rather positive, despite a few shortcomings. My colleagues have already talked about them.
This bill is extremely important. I must say, it is the result of excellent work that was done by various provinces. They managed to find some common ground in order to come up with this bill, although it was a long time coming. Indeed, the work began in 2001, and it was not until 2014 that it finally came to fruition. The process was extremely long. I understand that discussions with the provinces are not always easy and that reaching an agreement can be tough, especially when several provinces are involved. It took 13 years to finalize such a bill. That is a little much. I am happy to see that it is such a priority for the government—a priority in the sense that we are debating it here today.
