Mr. Speaker, I compliment the hon. member for Davenport on being such a strong advocate of the need to achieve universal convention to govern all uses of the sea.
Canada participated actively in the negotiation of the law of the sea convention and signed it in December 1982. Our involvement in the convention stems from three basic principles: our general support for rule of law and multilateral processes; our extensive coastline and substantial continental shelf; and a desire for stable ocean law and additional rights for coastal states concerning fisheries, navigation, pollution prevention and the mineral resources of the continental shelf.
Along with other industrialized states Canada did not ratify the convention due to concerns, as the hon. member said, regarding its provisions on deep seabed mining. After four years of negotiations these concerns were resolved. An agreement was adopted by the United Nations on July 28 and signed by Canada the very next day.
Canada has already been applying most of the provisions of the convention in practice as along with other countries we believe they reflect the customary law of the sea. We are now reviewing our domestic legislation to make certain it is in conformity with the provisions of the convention. This must be done before ratification to avoid any inconsistency with the convention.
We hope the hon. member's support for ratification of the convention will aid in the rapid passage of any amending legislation that may be brought forward.
I want to assure the hon. member for Davenport who has taken such a leadership role in this issue that the government intends to ratify the law of the sea as soon as possible.