Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak again in this debate, this time on the motions in Group No. 12.
But before I go any further, with your permission, Madam Speaker, I would like to pay special tribute to our venerable colleague, the member for Richelieu, who surpassed himself these past few hours, last night especially, when he made an improvised speech that lasted a good half hour and in which he succeeded in casting the government in a bad light and in forcing it to think. The few members who were around, even those in the government members' lobby, heard the relevant and judicious speech delivered by our colleague.
We saw how his experience as a former Conservative member served him well because he knows the rules of procedure. We saw how generous the member for Richelieu is, deep down inside, because he succeeded in rallying all the members present, as well as all those representing the region that will be affected by the bill. This man is really a natural leader.
I would now like to recall the principal points of the speech I made last night in the House. First, the whole process by which the government presented this bill is questionable, very negative and lacks transparency, starting with the study made by a private firm called IBI, study that was denounced and ridiculed by all kinds of experts, all interested parties and all stakeholders. As I mentioned yesterday, one witness who appeared before the committee went as far as to say that this report was not worth the paper it was written on, which says a lot.
It is all the more serious not only because the report was paid for by the public purse, but also because this document that is not recognized by the people involved forms the basis of the minister's rationale for implementing these fees. So if we want a healthy debate where everybody agrees on the general parameters, we are off to a very bad start. We do not have this basis for discussion since the document in question is not recognized by the people involved.
Then, under pressure from the official opposition, the fisheries and oceans committee heard witnesses. There again we saw the same attitude on the part of the government, an attitude of non transparency, of narrowmindedness, a kind of military attitude in some way-it is understandable-from the commissioner to the minister, who both happen to have the same profile. It is an attitude of non openness to the very sensible and very sincere arguments presented by witnesses who came maybe not to talk about their survival, but about good management, in the public interest.
Unfortunately, our colleagues opposite did not listen seriously to the evidence presented to them and made absolutely no effort to follow up on it. There was a huge gap between the comments made by the commissioner of the coast guard, our first witness-I sat on this committee as an associate member-and the comments made by the other witnesses, the users, who came to criticize the commissioner's position and to tell us how they perceived the situation and how they intended to co-operate. In point of fact, by this operation, the government is trying to get money from
users-though we do not know at what cost and what the impact it will have-to the tune of $160 million by the year 2000, in four years.
Witnesses mentioned three major grievances concerning the approach adopted by the government and it is obvious users are also upset for three basic reasons. First, no impact study was done to evaluate the impact of the fee structure although several witnesses talked about the potentially destructive effects of this new fee structure. Secondly, no detailed description has been given of services actually provided by the Coast Guard to users, despite the fact that the term user-payer is used. The government wants them to pay because they use services but there is not precise description of those services. I find that approach a bit clumsy and arrogant. If they said: "From now on, you will have to pay a precise fee for such and such a service", that could facilitate a positive dialogue between the parties. Instead, people are plainly told they are getting a service for which they will have to pay a given amount.
Finally, despite what users wanted, the Coast Guard made no effort, in their opinion-and this is the third complaint-to streamline its operations. This would have reduced potential costs to users all the more. These then are three aspects of the debate to bear in mind, because they illustrate the almost extemporaneous and extremely arbitrary position taken by the government in this matter.
Yesterday, I related a number of distressing facts, but I would like to carry on in this debate. It was said, among other things, that Canada is being arbitrarily divided into three regions with different rates for each: the west, the centre-Quebec and the Great Lakes-and the maritimes. Three different rates for three different regions, to the great chagrin of the federalist witnesses.
We were told that for a 25,000 tonne vessel-as the member for Richelieu said earlier-with respect only to aids to navigation-buoys-the cost would be $112,000 a year. That is awful. Imagine the shipowner with 12 or 15 ships. He will have to pay $112,000 per ship just for aids to navigation, the least expensive of the three items, the others being ice breaking-the most expensive-and dredging-of both the St. Lawrence and approaches to harbours and wharves. That means $112,000 for a single 25,000 tonne vessel, just for aids to navigation.
Another fact we should take into consideration is that a foreign vessel entering the largest inland waterway in the world-the St. Lawrence River-en route to an American port will pay nothing. There is no charge to such a vessel for aids to navigation and ice breaking, because it is not stopping in Canada, but going directly to the States. This will no doubt increase competition between American ports on the Great Lakes and the ports along the St. Lawrence. There will therefore be no charge to foreign vessels heading directly to the United States.
Another item that arose out of the committee's deliberations concerns ice breakers and ice. The fact is that, in the case of the ports along the North Shore, such as Baie-Comeau, Port-Cartier and Sept-Îles, there is no ice. There is no ice in Halifax, another major port, either. Except that user fees will be charged for ice-breakers in Port-Cartier, Sept-Îles and all along the North Shore whereas Halifax will not pay a cent for ice-breaking. Members must know that Halifax is the home port of the big ice-breakers that come all the way up to lake Saint-Pierre, where I come from, so the economic impact on the region will be dramatic.
Finally, I want to say a few words about Trois-Rivières, in my riding. For the port of Trois-Rivières only, the new fee schedule will entail additional costs of $500,000 per year for navigational aids and buoys alone, not including ice-breaking and dredging. This is awful and unacceptable. Everybody will have to pay these new fees even though there was no debate.
This measure is based on an accounting approach not even tempered by political sensibility and not taking socioeconomic consequences into account. We must put all our energies in denouncing such a politicy.
Hopefully the government will come to its senses and postpone until the fall third reading of this bill to allow all stakeholders to make their opinion known once and for all, after having heard from the minister and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Hopefully the minister and his whole department will bow to public pressure and come to their senses in the best interests of everyone.