Bill C-269 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Fisheries Act (prohibition — deposit of raw sewage)

This enactment amends the Fisheries Act in order to exclude raw sewage from the definition of deleterious substance so as to entirely prohibit its deposit in water.

Fisheries Act

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-269, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act (prohibition — deposit of raw sewage).

Mr. Speaker, this bill would make it illegal to dump untreated waste water into any body of water that contains fish habitat. This bill would remove the power of the federal minister to grant permits to municipalities to dump raw sewage into waterways, as happened when the former environment minister gave permission to Montreal to dump eight billion litres of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River.

When it comes to the environment, the Prime Minister acts completely phony. He talks a good game, but when the City of Montreal asked to be allowed to dump its raw sewage into one of Canada's most important waterways, he told them to go ahead. This bill would remove the power of federal ministers to grant permission to municipalities to damage vital fish habitats.

The Liberal government has a terrible record on the environment. It has not planted a single tree out of its promised two billion. Its carbon tax is neither revenue neutral—

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, the member knows, and you just indicated, that when members introduce a bill, they are supposed to give a brief description of it, not provide political commentary that might not necessarily be accurate.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

I thank the member. I will let the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle continue, but I will remind him to be succinct and that this is not a time for debate.

Please proceed.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, this is a very succinct explanation. As members know, private members' bills are often accompanied with a rationale. In fact, usually members talk about the need for their bill. Of course, the need for this bill is to take meaningful action on the environment.

I am almost finished my remarks. I know we have always given the government House leader great latitude when he has the floor in the House, and I promise him that I will not be but a few more moments.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Please proceed. I will not interrupt the discourse that is going on, but I will let the member continue, very succinctly.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, as I was saying, the Liberal government has a terrible record on the environment. It has not planted a single tree of its promised two billion, and its carbon tax is neither revenue neutral nor lowering emissions. It has damaged more lakes, rivers—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

I am sorry, but I am going to have to interrupt. We have a number of points of order coming in. The hon. member for Winnipeg North has the first point of order, and I am not sure of the other one.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I believe it is the former leader of the Green Party for the second point of order.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to reinforce the ruling you just made. We all know that providing political commentary is debate, and this is not a debate. The member should be giving a brief description of the bill. He knows full well that this is the case and I would ask him to respect the rule.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am, of course, speaking to the bill. The irony here is that the parliamentary secretary—

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

If the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle can hang on, we have two more points of order. The first one is from the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, and then we will move on to the second one.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise with some trepidation to support the point of order just made by the hon. member for Winnipeg North.

The former leader of the official opposition knows full well what he is doing. As a former speaker of the House, he must know this is a violation of our rules. By the way, I agree with him entirely about the terrible record of the current Liberal government. It is not as bad as that of the former Conservative government, but the introduction of a private member's bill is not a time to deliver a partisan speech.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

I believe we have slipped into the same thing we were talking about.

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the point of order raised by members who are not in our political party.

There is only one judge in this situation, Mr. Speaker, and it is you. Obviously these members do not accept what you have said. They disagree, but this is what democracy is all about. We have debates in Parliament. If the member who tabled the bill has something to say, you are the one who will judge if it is too much, not others.

[The Speaker, Anthony Rota]

Usually what happens, though, is that it is brought back on a point of order and then it is up to the Speaker to decide. I want to thank the hon. members for bringing that up.

I will let the hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle continue, but I remind him that anything more than just the bill itself or the motion itself really borders on debate and it is not the time for debate right now.

The hon. member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I will absolutely respect the guidance there.

Out of the interests of allowing the House to proceed to orders of the day, I will briefly touch upon the aspect of this bill that allows municipalities some time to upgrade their systems. The coming-into-force component of this bill is designed to allow municipalities across the country that may not yet have the capacity to fully treat the water they admit into waterways to do so in due course.

I thank the indulgence of members. I think it is very telling that when the Conservatives propose meaningful measures to improve the environment, the Liberals get pretty squirmy.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)