Madam Speaker, Bill S-4 was first debated in the Senate, as its name indicates. I can therefore think of no better way of opening debate than by going over what was said at third reading in the Senate on December 16.
This bill will improve our liability regimes for maritime claims. The proposed legislation consists of two sets of amendments, those relating to limitation of liability for maritime claims in part IX of the Canada Shipping Act, and those relating to liability and compensation for oil pollution damage in part XVI of the same act.
In both cases, the amendments will provide implementation of international conventions of which Canada is a signatory. First, our current legislation concerning limitation for maritime claims is contained in part IX of the Canada Shipping Act and is based on the international convention adopted in 1957.
The limits of liability set out in that convention and, by this very fact, in our legislation, are very low, too low. This helps neither claimants nor shipowners. In fact, current limits are so unsatisfactory that, most of the time, claimants have had to take legal action to try to go above the limits to obtain adequate compensation. This has often resulted in long and protracted litigation with uncertain results for both the claimants and shipowners.
It is very difficult for a shipowner to assess his potential liability. With higher realistic limits of liability as proposed in Bill S-4, it will be much easier for all parties involved to settle claims amicably.
The new regime of liability for maritime claims is based on an international convention adopted in 1976 and its protocol adopted in 1996. The 1996 protocol to the convention contains a new procedure, for future amendments of limits of liability, which responds to concerns raised in the past that the method of revision of the limits was too cumbersome and costly. It will now be easier to amend the limits in the international convention.
In addition, as with the regime of limitation of liability for maritime claims, it will now be feasible to increase the limits of liability for oil pollution damage by order in council.
The adoption of Bill S-4 will enable Canada to follow many other countries which moved rapidly, more rapidly than we did, to the 1992 regime and, as a result, terminated their membership in the old regime in May 1977, with effect from May 1998.
I will now give a brief description of the articles designed to achieve these objectives, beginning with those having to do with general maritime claims, as implemented by the Convention on Limitation of Liability.
Article 1 defines those persons entitled to limit liability under the convention. They are the same as those in the current legislation, i.e. shipowners, charterers, persons having an interest in or possession of a ship, and managers and operators, but the benefits of the convention are extended to salvors who are not operating from a ship.
Very briefly, article 2 defines the types of claims subject to limitation of liability under the convention.
Article 3 defines the types of claims excepted from limitation under the convention. These are primarily claims for salvage, etc.
Article 6 sets increased limits of liability for all claims other than those mentioned in article 7, covered by the convention and arising on any distinct occasion.
This now brings me to claims for pollution by oil or other pollutants. The definition of “Convention ship” is extended to include ships with persistent hydrocarbon mineral oil from an earlier cargo, and the definition of pollutant is amended to include aquatic organisms and pathogens.
Clauses 4 and 5 also amend the definition of “ship” to indicate clearly that it applies to vessels navigating Canadian or inland waters.
Clause 6 extends the application of part XVI to Canada's exclusive economic zone or that of any other party to the Convention.
Finally, clause 10 significantly increases the responsibility of the owners of Convention ships by setting the limits prescribed in 1992, which were amendments to the Convention of 1969. This means an increase of 326% over the limits of the 1969 Convention and of 125% over the recovery permitted under the 1971 Convention. This is a very significant increase.
In order to achieve the objectives set, the bill implements, as I said, the conventions of 1976 and 1996. It also implements, I should point out, the 1992 protocol amending the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage.>
Finally, this bill amends various provisions pertaining to the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund. It is therefore a total overhaul to ensure compliance with the Convention signed by Canada—a slightly tardy realignment of Canadian legislation with these conventions.
The Bloc Quebecois is happy to see that the government, hounded by the obligation to implement the conventions it has signed, must concern itself with making shipowners more responsible. We are obviously in favour of increased responsibility. We still have the memory of the unfortunate Irving Whale episode fresh in our minds. It cost the taxpayers of Canada and Quebec over $30 million to raise that barge, which makes it seem that the people of Canada and of Quebec were more responsible for the shipwreck than the shipowners themselves. One can see how ridiculous it all got.
Such situations must be avoided in the future. It is not up to the government to compensate for the laxness of certain irresponsible companies. Legislation must be therefore put in place to avoid such incidents in future. Hydrocarbon pollution is not the taxpayer's responsibility. We support the polluter-pay principle, precisely in order to stop companies causing serious environmental damage from getting away scot free.
There is, however, a need for a clear differentiation between the government implementing a user-pay system and a polluter-pay system. Where user-pay is concerned, we remember all too clearly the bad decisions made recently by the federal government concerning charges for Canadian Coast Guard services. The government did not agree to carry out impact studies before the new rates were set, thus refusing to heed 75% of the people consulted.
The government divided Canada into three zones: west coast, Atlantic coast and St. Lawrence—Great Lakes, for which it set different rates. As a result, Quebec is disadvantaged because it is charged more in order to cover part of the costs of the services to Newfoundland, the province of origin of the minister behind the bill.
Moreover, charging for Coast Guard services will impact heavily on Quebec and Canadian ports, because United States bound vessels using the St. Lawrence and the seaway but not putting in to any Canadian port do not pay for Coast Guard services. This measure detracts a great deal from the competitivity of Canadian and Quebec ports.
The current government decided to pass on the bill to shipowners and to local port authorities, without first doing something about the management of the coast guard.
It is not easy to apply the principle of financial and environmental accountability to shipowners. The government will have to maintain its principles, while keeping an open mind to make changes in the application of the act, should it trigger some perverse effects.
The Minister of Transport must not act like his colleague, the Minister of Fisheries, who remains so stubborn. He has to be open to change, while preserving his goal of making shipowners and their creditors accountable.
In conclusion, the Bloc Quebecois agrees with the principle underlying Bill S-4. However, we look forward to the next stages, when we will hear those most concerned by the bill and, if necessary, use their comments and reactions to make it a better act.