Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to what my hon. colleague had to say about Bill C-3. I had a first look at the bill just a few minutes ago. I did not intend to speak to it, but some of its provisions caught my attention and have me worried, to say the least.
This bill is far from innocuous. Although some would argue that it is only a housekeeping bill, it does transfer some of the powers from the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to the Minister of Transport, including the Coast Guard services. Among other things, the Coast Guard used to and hopefully will continue to deal with security issues. This is about to change. Security will be handled by the Minister of Transport, who has some very specific clients, including major ship owners. Let us not forget that the speed limit for ships using the St. Lawrence Seaway is set by the Coast Guard. It is a voluntary limit. From now on, Transport Canada, whose main clients are ship owners, will be responsible for enforcing the speed limit. That could put at risk the biodiversity of the St. Lawrence and of all the other bodies of water coming under the Marine Act.
We need to keep one thing in mind: the purpose of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is to protect our resources. This bill will transfer one of the powers of the department in charge of protecting our resources, namely the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to a more industry oriented department. So, there is reason to be worried.
I wonder if the member agrees that this could have an impact on the protection of biodiversity and marine pollution.