Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, colleagues.
Good afternoon, MP Weiler.
Thank you so much for bringing forward this private member's bill and for giving us the opportunity to talk about an issue that I know is of great concern to residents in your part of the country, which is close to my part of the country, and our coastal communities, where this issue is a surprisingly topical one in many instances. It's probably the first issue, in fact, that I was approached on after last year's election and that people demanded our government take action on. I appreciate your stepping in to help address that need.
I think it's particularly important, as our colleague opposite mentioned a moment ago in his remarks, to bring attention to this issue for our colleagues who may not live in coastal communities, who may not live in marine-adjacent ridings such as ours and may not be familiar with the many aspects and challenges associated with dead and derelict boats being, in many cases, abandoned.
One thing that leaps out at me about this issue is that people see it through many distinct lenses. We have, obviously, an environmental perspective in terms of contamination in the waters and on the shoreline and impacts on animal populations. We also have implications in terms of local economies, tourism and destination-based economies like ours. These vessels are something of an eyesore. There are also impacts on public finances—because, at the end of the day, the cost to remove these derelict vessels falls on the public purse—as well as for safety and other reasons. There are numerous different ways in which we can interrogate this issue.
With that in mind, would you be able to expand for our colleagues, who may not be as familiar with the knock-on impacts of these vessels in our communities, on how Bill C-244 will work to reduce the instances of new boats being added to this problem?