Mr. Speaker, on December 10, 1999 I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs when Canada planned to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Tonight I would like to reiterate some of the reasons why it is in Canada's interest to ratify this law.
Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea in 1982. This marked the culmination of more than 14 years of work involving participation by more than 150 countries. The convention needed ratification by 60 countries. It entered into force in 1994 without Canada's ratification.
Today the law of the sea is the virtual constitution of the world's oceans. It regulates a wide range of issues including pollution prevention, conservation of fish stocks, limits of coastal state jurisdictions, states' rights and responsibilities and mining of the ocean floor. The law of the sea is a landmark achievement of international law treating the resources of the ocean floor as the common heritage of mankind.
Now that 143 countries have ratified the law of the sea, now that 18 years have passed since Canada signed it, and now that the red book promise is seven years old, this globally recognized regime is still without Canada.
The 1993 Liberal Party red book says: “New multilateral regimes are needed to address many emerging global issues, the management of global fish stocks, the protection of the world's atmosphere” and so on. It goes on to say: “A Liberal government will foster the development of such multilateral forums and agreements, including an improved law of the sea”.
On December 10, 1999 the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the only question remaining was the complete ratification of the straddling stocks agreement. The excuse Canada gave for not ratifying the convention in 1994 was problems with the deep seabed mining provisions of the convention. Canada is thus putting obstacles in the way of ratification of the law of the sea.
This time Canada is awaiting complete ratification of the agreement for the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks. This agreement promotes good order in the oceans through the effective management and conservation of high seas resources by establishing: detailed minimum international standards for the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks; by setting out principles for the conservation and management of those fish stocks based on the precautionary approach and the best available scientific information; by ensuring that such measures taken under national jurisdiction and in the high seas are compatible and coherent; and finally, ensuring there are effective mechanisms for compliance and enforcement of those measures on the high seas.
Canada's objective of conserving national fish stocks cannot be achieved by the straddling fish stock agreement alone. Canada must achieve its objectives through international co-operation. Canada, with three oceans and immense marine resources, has a special responsibility to show international leadership. Therefore Canada can only gain by ratifying the law of the sea convention rather than risk losing its international reputation by further delaying the ratification of this important law.