Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite listened they might learn something.
Yet, since 1922, Quebec has been managing fresh water fishing within its boundaries, which shows the inconsistency of a system where water belongs to the provinces and the fish belong to Ottawa.
It is clear from this report that fresh water is under provincial jurisdiction. In B.C., minister Sihota goes even further by legislating on trading in provincial water.
In a federal paper entitled Media Backgrounder Federal Water Policy-Executive Summary , we can read this, and I quote:
-the provinces exercise direct control over many aspects of water management within their boundaries. Their competence to legislate in water matters derives from their jurisdiction over management of public lands, property and civil rights, and matters of a local and private nature. Provinces, therefore, have authority to legislate in areas of domestic and industrial water supply, pollution control, non-nuclear thermal and hydroelectric power development, irrigation and recreation.
Moreover, in Quebec, the Gérin-Lajoie philosophy, which says that Quebec's constitutional jurisdiction should be extended to its international relations, has always been the object of an undeniable consensus since 1965.
If we combine all this, that is, provincial jurisdiction over water, the provinces' wish to take charge of their international relations, as the member of Kamloops' province does through its Water Protection Act, and if we add to that the federal government's mediocrity, or even paucity in terms of the environment, it must be recognized that Bill C-202 is not a desirable bill.