Thank you.
Thank you very much, Minister, for coming and for bringing this act forward.
As people watching on TV probably know, Pierre Trudeau created the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act. It was very forward thinking and led the Arctic nations in preventing pollution in the Arctic. This is just a technical amendment to the distance that applies under the 1996 Oceans Act, extending our authority an extra 100 miles. This 13-line act extends our authority an extra 100 miles.
The question I have is related to how the government plans to enforce this act. We have just added an area that needs to be enforced of perhaps 500,000 square miles. That area is the size of Saskatchewan. How does the government plan to enforce this act? What is the use of doing this?
The Prime Minister's first promise made to the north was for three icebreakers. As the minister knows, he cancelled that promise and has promised one at some time in the distant future. That's not going to help enforce the act if we pass it soon. He promised still-undelivered patrol boats that can only go through a metre of ice, while the ice can be six metres. The military told us at the defence committee meeting last week that they could only be there three months a year. Last summer there was an explosion in the Arctic, and a few days later a sub sighting that the government refuses to tell Canadians anything about.
The government wasn't there for those, and if it's not there now in the Arctic, how is it possibly going to be there when it has to be, now that this act has expanded another 500,000 square miles of space to be covered?