Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to address Bill C-15. My comments will be brief, if I am not interrupted.
As the parliamentary secretary and member for Hamilton West rightly pointed out, the purpose of this bill, which has the unanimous support of the Canadian and Quebec marine communities, is first and foremost to modernize an act which, if I am not mistaken, dates back to the beginning of the century.
As is always the case at report stage, the government can be assured of our party's co-operation and participation to ensure that this legislation is passed quickly and referred to the Senate which, unfortunately, is a totally useless institution. If we had only one House, as is the case in a number of democracies, we would not have to solicit the approval of a group of non-elected people rewarded for their political loyalty with patronage appointments.
So, we are in favour of this bill being passed quickly. As I said, there is unanimous support from the marine community, and there is a need to modernize the existing legislation.
In the next few minutes, I would like to insist on a specific issue. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport was right to express his appreciation of the co-operation of the members of this House in the steps leading up to where we are today. I will return the compliment by pointing out that he has made changes at the request of the Bloc Quebecois and others by withdrawing the clauses on mandatory registration as well as the charges for small vessels.
I pointed out to him, both in private and in committee meetings, that, if the government followed through with its plans, I could guarantee that there would be widespread protests and demonstrations, since many small boat owners feel that the bill's intention to charge small vessels and require their registration is totally ridiculous.
We are not talking here about motor boats on Lac Des Deux Montagnes, but the requirement to register pedal boats, rowboats, sailboards, canoes and kayaks.