Mr. Speaker, as always, I consider it a privilege to rise in the House to bring attention to an important piece of legislation.
Bill S-4 is an act representing shipowners liability for maritime claims in general and for oil pollution damage in particular. Transport Canada has made a strong commitment to updating the legislation which governs the shipping industry. Bill S-4 now before us deals with the modernization of the marine liability regimes contained in the Canada Shipping Act.
The bill deals with maritime liability and proposes to increase the compensation available to Canadian claimants, in particular for claims related to ship source pollution damage. In contrast to the current regime for oil spills, these amendments to the Canada Shipping Act will establish shipowners liability for environmental damage and allow for the cost of preventive measures taken in anticipation of a spill.
The legislation was originally introduced as Bill C-58 in the last parliament by the former transport minister. However the bill died on the order paper and was reintroduced in the Senate last October as Bill S-4.
The bill amends part IX and part XVI of the Canada Shipping Act. Part IX deals with global limitation of liability for maritime claims, while part XVI deals with liability and compensation for oil pollution damage.
The amendments to part IX of the Canada Shipping Act are based on the 1976 convention on limitation of liability for maritime claims and its protocol adopted in May 1996 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, the IMO.
As I stated earlier, the proposed legislation will increase ship owners limits of liability and improve considerably the amount of compensation available to claimants involved in maritime accidents. These limits are calculated on the basis of the ship's size and apply to all claims arising from the same accident. This enables shipowners to assess their potential liability, which is an essential condition for commercial insurability.
The regime of global limitation contained in part IX of the Canada Shipping Act applies to all ships including pleasure vessels. The current limit of liability for loss of life or personal injury for owners of vessels below 300 tonnes, which includes most pleasure vessels, is only $140,000.
As members can appreciate, this limit is totally inadequate and the new limit for vessels below 300 tonnes has been set at $1.5 million, which is more in line with the liability levels long established in the automotive sector.