Thank you, Madam Chair.
Honourable members, as introduced by the chair, my name is Stephanie Lane. I am accompanied by my colleagues Daniel and David.
Thank you for the invitation to discuss Bill C-244.
As its sponsor has stated, if passed, Bill C‑244 will amend the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The parts of the act that would be amended are administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Before discussing the amendments that the bill would make to the act, I will briefly describe the current disposal at sea regime established under the act.
The disposal at sea provisions establish a comprehensive framework for protecting the marine environment. They prohibit the disposal of waste or other matter from ships, aircraft, platforms or other structures at sea. The provisions of that act do not apply to land-based activities. The act sets out over 10 specific prohibitions related to disposal at sea, including in subsection 125(1), which this bill proposes to amend. These prohibitions can be lifted only by permit, and only for a small, limited set of low-risk wastes listed in schedule 5 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Returning to the amendment in the bill before us, we understand from the sponsor that the intent is to clarify that disposal at sea under subsection 125(1) is a strict liability offence and, therefore, does not require proof of intent. The proposal, as MP Weiler indicated in the last hour, is intended to prevent a recurrence of the not guilty finding in the 2018 MV Marathassa decision, which stemmed from a 2015 oil spill in Vancouver's English Bay.
Indeed, disposal at sea offences in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, as with most offences under the act, are already interpreted as strict liability offences. This is made clear by the availability of the due diligence defence in section 283 of that act. It is a defence that is available only for strict liability offences. While the court in the MV Marathassa case does not appear to have addressed this section, I can confirm that the department treats the disposal at sea offences under the act as strict liability offences.
Thank you, members of Parliament. I believe my colleagues will also make a few opening remarks. We will be happy to answer your questions.