Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for taking the time to come here. I know some of you have come from a long way, and it's always good to welcome a fellow British Columbian in the case of Mr. Siddon.
I want to begin with asking you a few questions. I have been around the Fisheries Department for several years now as parliamentary secretary. I am aware of the work you did in 1985 to 1990 and have considerable appreciation for that work, so I do need to understand better your position on this.
To frame my question, I think it's clear to us part of the changes we're introducing here is changing section 35 of the Fisheries Act. The current act says:35. (1) No person shall carry on any work or undertaking that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.
We're proposing changing that to:35. (1) No person shall carry on any work, undertaking or activity that results in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery, or to fish that support such a fishery.
Is it fair to say, Mr. Siddon, you would prefer us to stay with the old section 35 rather than this proposed version?