Good morning.
Canada has the longest coastline in the world, and it continues to grow as the Arctic melts. I grew up in, live in and represent a riding in Mississauga in the GTA, so I'm not close to any of the coastline, but shipping for us very much means commerce and commercial goods coming to our area. That's the angle of my approach.
What struck me as a bit odd was that previously when whales would be struck, a lot of the legislation was geared to protecting the ship and its personnel. We want them to be safe, but the changes have now afforded more protections to marine life. A main tenet of our government is that it's unacceptable now to only focus on business without taking into consideration the environment around it.
Under the Canada Shipping Act, the liability and the fines would be increased to $250,000. Do you think that's acceptable or a high enough maximum?