Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your testimony, MP Weiler.
I grew up on the West Coast, and I still live there today, so I'm well aware of the scourge of abandoned vessels sinking on the west coast of British Columbia.
When I was a band councillor as well as a chief councillor, we tried to address this as well, and it ended up with us using our own resources to take abandoned vessels out of the water. We're well aware of the problem of buying a vessel for one dollar.
Bill C-244 puts more responsibility—and I might say more liability—on the seller. The seller has to ensure that whoever he's selling this boat to has “the ability, resources [and] intent to maintain, operate or dispose of the vessel in a manner that prevents it from becoming wrecked [or] abandoned”.
This is the way I read that: If I sell the boat to my colleague here, who has never owned a boat—I don't even think he's seen the ocean—then I have to figure out if he has “the ability, resources or intent to maintain, operate or dispose of the vessel”. I'm also assuming, on my part, that he has some kind of a document saying that the vessel is in good working condition and that my colleague has a résumé of items that he intends to do to operate this in an efficient manner. If not, the document has to stand up in the courts.
Are we assuming that this document we're talking about has to be notarized? Does it have to be legalized in some manner to protect my liability and my responsibility? I don't want to be fined $5,000 when I know he has the resources and I know he has the ability to use YouTube. I know all that, but he still lets the boat sink. I don't want it to come back to me.
What kind of a document do we need to ensure that I've done my due diligence?