Mr. Speaker, we have to take part in this debate. We have to, because enough is enough.
I will add that, fortunately, the Bloc Quebecois is here to see what is going on and to point out loud and clear that federalism as it is practiced here has nothing to do with what we learn, in political science books, about this type of government.
Federalism as we see it here is becoming a continuous struggle between two levels of government, two departmental levels, while the federal government is using the surpluses that were taken so cruelly from the unemployed and from those who have suffered as a result of cuts in health care, in education and in welfare.
It takes a great deal of arrogance, ignorance or insensitivity, or maybe all of these, to introduce such a bill at a time like this. My colleague, the member for Drummond, pointed out the federal government's inconsistency—it could almost be funny if the situation were not so sad—in wanting at all costs to have the final say on the environment. As if the government of Quebec and the other provincial governments could not take care of this adequately or were not reasonable enough to agree on a joint program.
This goes completely against the spirit of federalism, but the federal government is convinced that it is the only one that can adequately defend or protect, with the taxpayers' money, health care or any other right of Canadians, Quebeckers and people in the other provinces.
In fact, these repeated attacks make so little sense that, when we talk about them, it looks like we are exaggerating. It looks like what we are saying does not make sense. It is, however, the plain and simple truth. That is the problem.
Again, we have to fight. Many times, I condemned the fact that Bill C-54, now before us, constitutes such an intrusion in areas under provincial jurisdiction that all the provincial and territorial ministers of justice of all provinces have asked that it be withdrawn. But the federal government seems to be carrying on as if this were unimportant. They could not care less about the law of the land. They thumb their noses at constitutional interpretation. They just make laws or use their spending powers.
In the case of concern to us here, the Bloc Quebecois has once again tried to get the bill withdrawn. We find ourselves faced with a bill that looks innocuous, with its title of “an act respecting marine conservation areas”.
Its objective seems most praiseworthy: to ensure—and this was a promise, an international commitment, by the Prime Minister—the protection of natural, self-regulating marine ecosystems for the maintenance of biological diversity. The problem is that the Prime Minister did not turn to the provinces to ask them how they could help to achieve this international commitment. No, that is not what was done.
They proposed a bill in which they say “We will look after this. We will pass a law. We will establish marine conservation areas, and in order to ensure that they fit in with what we want to do, Her Majesty in right of Canada must have clear title to the lands in question”. This is what appears in clause 5(2).
Clear title to the lands in question means three specific areas, three large and significant areas, as far as the St. Lawrence is concerned. The present Government of Quebec, which it seems will also be the next one as well—and this will come as no surprise to anyone who has read this morning's papers—had already initiated consultations on this matter.
It is outrageous, after having made an international commitment, to turn around and say “Now I am choosing the locations where I am going to create areas, and if I am going to invest in this, I have to have ownership”.
Something stands in the way, however. The National Assembly passed legislation on crown lands which applies, and I quote, “to all crown lands in Quebec, including beds of waterways and lakes and the bed of the St. Lawrence river, estuary and gulf, which belong to Quebec by sovereign right”.
It is fortunate that the Quebec National Assembly has passed this legislation. It provides that Quebec cannot transfer its lands to the federal government. The only thing it can do under this legislation is to authorize, by order, the federal government to use them only in connection with matters under federal jurisdiction.
However, the protection of habitats and fauna is a matter of joint federal and provincial jurisdiction. The Government of Quebec plans to establish a framework for the protection of marine areas in the near future, as the member for Rimouski—Mitis reminded us.
The identified areas are under Quebec's jurisdiction and Quebec has no intention of giving them away because, as the Bloc Quebecois critic for fisheries pointed out, the fishing industry is in dire straits. The only prospect villagers who are starving, young people who see no future and seniors who have difficulty making ends meet have is that bureaucrats will come swarming into this area to handle fish conservation, without co-operation and without preparation.
Heritage Canada and its minister may want to follow up on the Prime Minister's commitment, but they cannot do so without taking Quebec and Quebeckers into consideration. The only way to meet this international commitment, whose objectives the Bloc supports, is to do what was done when the Saguenay—St. Lawrence marine park was established, in other words, to have similar legislation passed simultaneously at the federal and provincial level and dealing with a joint management.
I repeat, it is fortunate that the Bloc Quebecois is here, it is fortunate that Quebec has passed an act respecting crown lands to protect territorial sovereignty, which is guaranteed under the Constitution. Quebeckers will not sit idly by.