Mr. Chairman, I thank the minister for his kinds words. The debate was certainly civilized and informative in many respects.
I too wish to thank my colleague from the Yukon for his remarks. I know that we are both members whose ridings are along shores, but very different shores. We had the opportunity to work together on the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, and I know that, for him, the issue of shoreline erosion along the St. Lawrence River is not one of the obvious concerns.
To illustrate my remarks if I may, I would submit to him that, somewhat fed up of seeing his property gradually chipped away, one of my fellow citizens purchased a radar to clock the speed of ships on the St. Lawrence River. He reported to me that, on June 17, a ship named JAC sailed by his place, in Contrecoeur, at a speed of 17.05 knots, while the limit on the river is 11 knots.
Would my colleague, the hon. member for the Yukon, not agree, based on the comments made by Jacques Desrosiers, of Contrecoeur, that monitoring on the St. Lawrence has been on the decline because of the Coast Guard's dwindling resources, with the result that ships' speed has increased, causing further damage in terms of shoreline erosion?