Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
I know how short your time is and how important your time is. We'll try to keep to within the five minutes.
I'm president of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. We represent waterkeeper organizations from British Columbia right through to Labrador. I'm joined here by my vice-president, Krystyn Tully, and the Ottawa Riverkeeper, Meredith Brown.
There really are two points about the proposed changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act that I hope you take home with you tonight. If the changes are approved, two things will happen. First, no longer will the government need to get the consent of the people when it wants to take away the rights of navigation. Second, the government will no longer be required to do its due diligence before infringing upon those rights of navigation.
Both of those rights or obligations that are currently protected under the Navigable Waters Protection Act are now being rephrased as being old, outdated, and no longer important. We know from our relations with the hunting community, paddling community, fishing community, and the tourism community right across this country that this is not true. These are not outdated rights and principles, and the people still require that this government, its elected officials, or the actual public servants be required to get the consent of the people and to do due diligence before they take away or infringe on those navigable water rights.