Madam Speaker, this is the third opportunity I have to address this bill and the amendments in Groups Nos. 11, 12 and 13.
Before beginning to seriously address this bill, I want to voice an objection against what the member for Vancouver Quadra said, despite the kind words he had for me. He said the last Bloc Quebecois speakers were running out of arguments. True, this is a political arena and we play the game. The member for Vancouver Quadra came to politics after an outstanding university career and he is fast learning the political role in this House.
However, he must recognize that the role of MPs, especially those of the party I represent, is to express their views and that this role is inalienable. Members of the Bloc Quebecois, at the risk of repeating themselves, properly exercise their parliamentary right to speak. It is about the only thing we have here.
I would like to point out to the member for Vancouver Quadra that we have been debating this bill, its inherent nature, for two days and that there are also Quebec members in his party. There are about 20 Liberal members from Quebec and they are absent from this debate. I do not mean they are not in the House. What I mean is they do not show any interest whatsoever in this debate. They are invisible on this matter. They are not taking to heart the interests of their constituents because they might be at odds with the national caucus of their party.
This is not the first time. It has happened on several occasions. I remember when Ontario Liberal members tried to quash, annihilate and have declared ultra vires the regulations under the Drug Patent Act. Quebec Liberal members remained quiet then also so as not to go against the impressive representation of Ontario Liberal members which had won 98 seats out of 99.
I would like to bring to the attention of my colleague from Vancouver Quadra that Bloc members have not only the right but the duty to speak up on this bill, to take it completely apart to try to explain what is at stake to people who voted for the Bloc Quebecois but also-this is politics-to those who, in Quebec, voted for the Liberal Party, which is not doing a very good job at defending their interests in this matter. Of course, they would have to forget partisanship and realize what the dangers of this legislation are.
The fees are arbitrary. The minister in charge, a former professional soldier, is the only one in his army who marches in step. He knows it all. He is the one who decides what is good for his government and his department.
I will give you an example. Clauses 25 and 26 deal with regulations concerning fees and extraterritorial fishing zones. I would like the member for Gaspé, through you, Madam Speaker, to allow the member for Vancouver Quadra to listen to the important remarks I am going to make. I know you agree, Madam Speaker, since you are not saying anything. Silence gives consent. I assume you have recognized how right I am.
All this to tell the member for Vancouver Quadra that when you write, in clause 25, "The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs-"
A little further it says: "The governor in council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans". This may seem harmless. The hon. member for Vancouver Quadra, who is also an expert in administrative law, will understand that this would deprive the House of its only power in the decision to legislate or regulate.
As the hon. member for Vancouver Quadra knows, the old wording was: "The governor in council may, by order", that is to say, after the House of Commons has made a decision to that effect. But this government, as it is wont to do, is now trying to make the presence of members representing all the regions of Canada irrelevant, because bills like this one affect everybody.
Therefore, if the minister can decide with his friends, in a Sparks Street restaurant, to regulate, to raise fees, to designate or eliminate an area, to redefine boundaries, he can do so. It used to be said that the only thing he could not do was to turn a man into a woman, but even that is possible today.
Through you, Madam Speaker, and with all the respect I have for my colleague, I wish to say that the hon. member for Vancouver Quadra is nonetheless a not-so-young man-no offence-who has been left with the burden of defending this bill to save his Liberal friends and colleagues from Quebec, who are hiding behind the curtains or in the lobby on the other side.
They have nothing to be proud of, unlike the hon. member for Vancouver Quadra, who, at his age, had the courage and the heart to stoically rise in this House to defend what I would not have defended, but at least he is doing so with conviction and intellectual honesty. Such is not the case for the Liberal members from Quebec.
I would like him to suggest that his minister defer third reading of this bill until the fall and finally listen to reason and realize that this bill will have a disastrous, unspeakable impact on the Quebec economy, and on transport in particular.
Are the senior members of the Liberal Party currently deciding to do to maritime transport what they did to rail transport, that is to say, deprive Quebec of most of its traffic, leaving only pleasure boats to sail without hindrance on the St. Lawrence? Did they decide to favour other means of heavy transport, even if this benefits our American friends' eastern ports? We have a right to ask this. I would like the hon. member for Vancouver Quadra, in an ultimate effort to be fair and honest, to set the record straight and be fair to Quebecers in this matter.