Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Out of respect for my colleagues and the witnesses, I will try to get to the heart of the issue, with these two brief remarks.
Mr. Chris Bloomer made the following statement before this committee:
I think that provision can be enacted if, in adding water bodies, it's deemed necessary, and there's a process and principles that apply to that. I think it's on a case-by-case basis, and I think that's probably the best way to deal with it.
We hear from witnesses who would like to see amendments and would like to go back to the way things were, but for having been mayor and for having heard what many associations had to say about this, I can tell you that the old process caused a lot of problems in municipalities regarding the development of our regions and the development of access to those regions. Something needed to be done.
I heard it said today that Canada has been protecting its navigable waters since 1906. But today's Canada is not the Canada of 1906. Technology, and the use made of bodies of water, have changed a great deal. In the past, rivers were used everywhere for trade, but that has almost disappeared now.
I think that the changes made to the Navigation Protection Act were appropriate and needed to be made. That is why, in the interest of transparency, since we are talking here about the government of transparency—