Mr. Speaker, all of the waterways mentioned by the hon. member are protected. Environmental laws will continue to apply to all of our country's waterways, as he said.
The changes made to the Navigable Waters Protection Act are not environmental in nature because this is not an environmental law. This law is not environmental and it never has been; therefore, the amendments will have no impact on the environment.
The Navigable Waters Protection Act exists to reconcile conflicting interests in the case of ships and bridges, for example. It allows Canadians to have access to these waters for transportation and construction. That is the main reason this law was created.
Currently, the law applies to waters where navigation is questionable. Our public servants are obliged to work on projects that have nothing to do with navigation. In order to eliminate this waste and keep our economy working as it should, we changed the law to focus on navigable waters.
Happily, all of the laws protecting the environment continue to apply just as they always have. For example, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the Fisheries Act and the laws on wildlife habitat will continue to apply. All of those laws will continue to protect the waterways that the member mentioned in his speech.
The reality is that the laws on navigation will apply only to those waters that have navigation. It would seem to me that would make sense. When there is a small stream that is not capable of carrying any large-scale navigation and a farmer wants to build a small footbridge over it, I do not think it is necessary for the national transportation department to come out and make sure that a shipping vessel will not be interrupted by that footbridge. When the people at Wabamun Lake in Alberta want to build small recreational docks so their kids can fish off them, or God forbid, jump in the lake, I do not think it is necessary to have federal bureaucrats ensuring that shipping tankers will not be interrupted. We know that is not necessary.
Navigation laws will now focus on navigation.