Mr. Speaker, when the debate on Bill C-48, an act respecting marine conservation areas, started at second reading, the Reform Party tabled an amendment calling for the withdrawal of that bill in its present form. That amendment was rejected by the majority in this House.
But make no mistake about the meaning of that rejection. Indeed, during the debate on the amendment, a number of members of this House clearly condemned, among other things, the serious flaws of this bill and the phoney consultation process that took place.
The fact that we rejected the amendment does not mean that we are prepared to support the bill since, on the face of it, it is just as unacceptable.
Let us see what this bill is all about.
The purpose of Bill C-48 is to provide a legal framework for the establishment and eventual development of 28 marine conservation areas, including eight in Quebec, representing each of the ecosystems identified to date in Quebec and Canada. The Saguenay—St. Lawrence marine park is the 29th marine conservation area. However, this park is not included in this bill because it is covered by ad hoc legislation both in Canada and in Quebec.
In the preamble to the act, the Minister of Canadian Heritage states the reasons that led to the establishment of these marine conservation areas.
The government wants, first, to protect natural, self-regulating marine ecosystems for the maintenance of biological diversity; second, to establish a representative system of marine conservation areas; third, to ensure that Canada contributes to international efforts for the establishment of a world-wide network of representative marine areas; fourth, to provide opportunities for the people of Canada and of the world to appreciate Canada's natural and cultural marine heritage; and, fifth, to provide opportunities within marine conservation areas for the ecologically sustainable use of marine resources for the lasting benefit of coastal communities.
Clearly, in order to enforce this legislation when it has obtained royal assent, the federal government would have to acquire the lands belonging to Quebec or to the other provinces affected by this plan to establish marine conservation areas.
Paragraph (2) of clause 5 of the bill provides that the minister may create a marine conservation area “only if the Governor in Council is satisfied that clear title to the lands to be included in the marine conservation area is vested in Her Majesty in right of Canada, excluding any such lands situated within the exclusive economic zone of Canada”. On the very face of it, this bill does not respect the integrity of Quebec's territory.
How can the Government of Canada think for one moment that the Government of Quebec will hand over ownership of the ocean floor of marine conservation areas that it is thinking of developing within the territory of Quebec?
How can the Government of Canada be unaware, or pretend to be unaware, of paragraph (5) of section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which recognizes clearly that the management and sale of public lands is an area of exclusively provincial jurisdiction?
What makes the Government of Canada so ignorant, or so arrogant, that it fails to recognize that Quebec legislation on crown lands, passed by the Quebec National Assembly, applies 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?
How could the Government of Canada be so ignorant as to not know that under Quebec legislation the province cannot cede its land to the federal government? It knows full well that, within this legal framework, all the Government of Quebec can do is issue an order permitting the federal government to use Quebec crown lands, including the marine floor, only when the federal government restricts its action to its own areas of jurisdiction.
According to the notes provided us by the Minister of Canadian Heritage with regard to Bill C-48, marine conservation areas are planned for the St. Lawrence, the St. Lawrence estuary and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These are three areas in which the marine floor is under Quebec's jurisdiction.
Why is the Government of Canada trying again with a bill to invade Quebec jurisdiction? Why is this government, which should be acting for the good of the population, refusing yet again to follow the legislative process that worked so well in the establishment and management of the Saguenay—St. Lawrence park?
Why is this government refusing to again use the bilateral agreement process that worked so well in the case of the St. Lawrence? Why not sign an agreement like the St. Lawrence action plan, phase III, which was signed by all federal and provincial departments concerned, and which provides for an investment of $250 million, over a period of five years, in various activities relating to the St. Lawrence River.
Why is the Department of Canadian Heritage acting with such arrogance this time, by claiming to own the marine floor where it wants to create marine conservation areas, instead of resorting to bilateral agreements with the Quebec government and thus avoiding having Canada once again trample Quebec's areas of jurisdiction?
By refusing to follow the example of the Saguenay—St. Lawrence Marine Park Act and by making ownership of the territory an essential condition for the creation of marine conservation areas, the federal government is behaving, as Robert Bourassa used to say, like a centralizing government that wants control over everything, regardless of recognized jurisdictions.
If ridicule killed, the government would be six feet under by now. Members will want to listen carefully to this. Not satisfied with invading the jurisdiction of a neighbouring government—Quebec—with Bill C-48, the federal government is invading its own jurisdiction and creating overlaps within its own administration. Let us look at how ridiculous that is.
Through the Department of Canadian Heritage, the government plans to create marine conservation areas.
Through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, it has already created marine protected areas.
Through the Department of the Environment, it wants to create marine wildlife reserves.
It should be noted that a single site could find itself protected under more than one category.
In short, the federal government, which claims to have met all of Quebec's demands, and which states in its Speech from the Throne that it is putting an end to overlap and to interference in areas of provincial jurisdiction, has now found a way to divide itself into three components and to actually overlap itself, so as to be absolutely certain to meddle, in one way or another, in areas that come under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the other provinces.
After looking at how Heritage Canada went about consulting on its draft bill and at the results of that consultation, the Bloc Quebecois concluded that the exercise was a miserable failure and that it was really too bad that, with all the resources at the minister's disposal, she did not see fit to conduct real consultations, which would have made all the flaws in the bill apparent to her. Despite this disastrous failure, Heritage Canada boasts that it has public support for the bill. What a sorry farce.
If ecosystems are to be protected effectively, the Government of Canada must have the co-operation of coastal communities. The Bloc Quebecois urges the government to find workable solutions to the economic woes of coastal communities, if it hopes one day to reach an agreement with them on protecting the environment.
Its partnership initiative with the Government of Quebec should have served as a model to the federal government for the creation of other marine conservation areas. Rather than demonstrating open-mindedness and co-operation, the federal government is still taking an arrogant, aggressive, invasive approach that overlaps other jurisdictions and that is hardly calculated to encourage us to work with them another time.
Obviously, the Bloc Quebecois is against the bill, mainly for the following reasons.
Instead of relying on dialogue, as in the case of the Saguenay—St. Lawrence marine park, the federal government wants to create marine conservation areas irrespective of Quebec's jurisdiction with regard to the protection of its territory and environment.
Second, the Department of Canadian Heritage is proposing the establishment of a new structure, the marine conservation areas, which will duplicate Fisheries and Oceans' protected areas and Environment Canada's protected marine areas.
When things are running smoothly, the Government of Canada tries throwing a wrench in the works, sometimes in the form of baseball bats or pepper spray. This government prefers to stir up trouble, ill feelings and even discontent in the population. It does not understand that Quebeckers have had it with these arrogant policies that cost a fortune. I am confident that the people will let them know that unequivocally on November 30.