Mr. Speaker, I commend you for doing what you can to stand in for one of your colleagues at a moment's notice. That is quite remarkable.
As far as the Oceans Act is concerned, some may wonder what the hon. member for Lévis is doing in this debate, since the riding of Lévis is far from the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean and even farther from the Pacific Ocean. However, according to the legal definition, an ocean is any body of salt water. For the information of my colleagues who appear surprised by this definition, the St. Lawrence carries salt water as far as my riding.
As I was saying earlier about greater federal interference, about the government's effort to extend its reach so it can regulate everyone's life, I see its borrowing the definition of ocean as a body of salt water as an attempt to extend its reach to my region under the Quebec bridge.
This bill also covers the management of the coast guard, which, as it happens, is very important in the St. Lawrence. As you may well understand, we are concerned about the designation of maritime areas. For this reason, I like the amendment put forward by the hon. member for Gaspé, which deals with fishery resources. What are fishery resources?
I spoke on this issue in my riding. Today, again, before I arrived here in Ottawa, someone told me: "I do not have a great deal of education, but it seems the government, the public servants or those who draft the legislation purposely try to confuse us with big words". Take, for example, the French expression "ressources halieutiques", as in halieutics, the art or practice of fishing. This is not the word the person was concerned about, but we must define it.
We, members of Parliament, have a duty to correctly inform the population. So, what does "ressources halieutiques" mean? This expression is more appropriate than marine protected areas, because it refers to the live resource, that is the fish and any other living species in the oceans, whether at the bottom or the surface. Things like this should be specified when drafting legislation.
We are talking here about a large number of species. I did not count them but, in the St. Lawrence River and in the gulf, people still catch eels and sturgeons. The resources are becoming increasingly rare, because they were not adequately protected in Canadian waters located within in the 200 mile limit, since the ocean contour is not always straight.
However, when the notion of ocean extends to the St. Lawrence River, we have a duty to make these specifications. This is why I fully support the amendments proposed by the hon. member for Gaspé, who knows a lot about fisheries and oceans. He was born and raised in a fishing community and, for three years now, he has been active in the committees of our caucus. He constantly keeps us informed, because we, urban dwellers, eat various species of fish now and then.
We are glad to get some once and a while, but we have to ensure it is processed correctly. Also, a lot of people are involved in this industry and some of them have received assistance from their provincial governments.
I had the opportunity to work many years with the former Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Jean Garon. I went along with him to the meetings he attended and I heard the fishermen tell him how important the provincial government's involvement in this industry is, since the federal government cannot deal by itself with processing plants.
The provinces can play a key role in many areas, if they so wish. The province of Quebec has tried to do so many, many times. It is still playing a major role, because this is an important resource. I remember when some of today's most popular resources, such as crab for example, were not developed here. Crab was only exported to Japan, to the delight of the Japanese people, but was not very well known here. Nowadays, thanks to all the ad campaigns and the special ways it is processed, Quebecers enjoy crab, too much perhaps, because there are times we run short.
I was talking earlier about another one of our resources, eels. This is a resource found in the St. Lawrence River, in what the bill considers a marine protected area in fact, a resource not well known to Canadians but a pure delight for Europeans, particularly Germans who really enjoy this fish, a resource that we could further develop.
These are all good reasons for the federal government to join with the provinces, even if it has jurisdiction over the fisheries pursuant to the Constitution, and create a partnership to further develop our resources and let the provinces become some of its partners in order to help the people who work in the fishing industry.