House of Commons Hansard #255 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was fishing.

Topics

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

Glengarry—Prescott—Russell Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Lemieux ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

Is it agreed?

Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Bill C-54--Notice of Time Allocation MotionNot Criminally Responsible Reform ActRoutine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to advise the House that agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to second reading stage of Bill C-54, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the National Defence Act (mental disorder).

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3) I give notice that a minister of the crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage of the said bill.

Bill C-49--Notice of Time Allocation MotionCanadian Museum of History ActRoutine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to advise the House that agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to second reading stage of Bill C-49, An Act to amend the Museums Act in order to establish the Canadian Museum of History and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3) I give notice that a minister of the crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage of the said bill.

Bill C-48--Notice of Time Allocation MotionTechnical Tax Amendments Act, 2012Routine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to advise the House that agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to third reading stage of Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act and related legislation.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3) I give notice that a minister of the crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage of the said bill.

Bill C-48--Notice of Time Allocation MotionTechnical Tax Amendments Act, 2012Routine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am not 100% clear and would seek the advice from the Chair or the table officers.

The government House leader, through his point of order, is suggesting that we put a number of bills through some sort of time allocation process. I am wondering if that is in order. Can the government in the future bring forward, through a point of order, a list of 10 bills and say we are going to apply time allocation for those entire 10 bills, and then we would have questions and comments, for example, on that? Could I get a better explanation of exactly what it is the government is—

Bill C-48--Notice of Time Allocation MotionTechnical Tax Amendments Act, 2012Routine Proceedings

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

It is the Chair's understanding that the matter brought forward by the government House leader is in order. If the member for Winnipeg North requires an explanation of the process, I would suggest that possibly someone from the desk in the lobby may be able to provide that to him. That is not the role of the Chair.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tony Clement Conservative Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON

moved that Bill S-13, An Act to amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

12:45 p.m.

Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission B.C.

Conservative

Randy Kamp ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and for the Asia-Pacific Gateway

Mr. Speaker, I know that my colleague, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade has a keen interest in this bill, so with your consent I would like to share my time with the member for South Shore—St. Margaret's.

I am pleased to support Bill S-13, an act to amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act. This bill originated in the other place and the Senate Committee on Fisheries and Oceans studied the bill between November 8, 2012 and March 5, 2013. During the study, the Senate committee heard testimony from officials of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Oceans and Environmental Law Division of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, the president of the Fisheries Council of Canada, and others as well.

The purpose of Bill S-13 is to enable Canada to ratify the international agreement on port state measures to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

On March 7, after examining the bill and hearing from witnesses, our colleagues in the other place passed the act to amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act.

The port state measures agreement negotiations focused on illegal fishing and transshipping on the high seas, what we call IUU fishing or illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. IUU fishing is an issue of grave concern. The agreement deals with the worldwide problem of IUU fishing, which has deep economic and environmental consequences. The committee heard that the estimated economic loss from IUU fishing averages between $10 billion and $23 billion every year.

The international agreement ensures that there is a cohesive and collaborative effort to sustainably manage the resources contained in our oceans. On November 22, 2009, the member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN reached an agreement on it. Canada was one of the countries that played a leadership role in that effort. Canada signed the port state measures agreement in 2010 and now needs to follow through with this commitment by ensuring that our legislation is amended to fulfill our international commitments.

Some of the most important stipulations in the port state measures agreement include: establishing standards for information to be provided by vessels seeking entry to port; continuing to deny port entry and service to vessels that are implicated in pirate fishing or IUU fishing unless entry is for enforcement purposes; and, setting minimum standards for vessel inspections and the training of inspectors.

I can say that Bill S-13 is widely supported by the fishing industry and is necessary in order to fulfill our international commitments. The only criticism from the president of the Fisheries Council of Canada was that it took too long to negotiate and ratify this agreement. Therefore, I sincerely hope that my colleagues on the opposition side will not delay this bill and hold up the implementation of measures that would enable Canada to effectively combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Fish is a highly traded food commodity and as such illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing rapidly becomes a global problem with significant economic, social and environmental consequences. IUU fishing operators gain economic advantage over legitimate fish harvesters through lower cost of operations by circumventing national laws and regulations. They also undermine conservation and management measures of regional fisheries management organizations and other international standards.

Once IUU fish enter the market, it is very difficult if not impossible to distinguish them from legally caught fish. IUU fishing will remain a lucrative business if the benefits of landing and selling such products continue to outweigh the costs associated with being caught. IUU fish in the market can depress prices for fish products to unprofitable levels for legitimate fish harvesters. Canadian fish harvesters are susceptible to price fluctuations in international markets, as approximately 85% of fish caught in Canadian waters are exported, representing more than $4 billion annually.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, often referred to as pirate fishing, puts the livelihoods of legitimate fishermen around the world at risk and has an impact on the conservation and protection of our fisheries.

Pirate fishing is a global problem that undermines responsible fishing and has consequences on food security, safety at sea, marine environmental protection and the stability of prices for fish products in some markets. IUU fishing also poses serious potential threats to marine ecosystems and fish stocks. Therefore, by strengthening the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act we will protect this vital resource and support the international fight against pirate fishing.

Canadian fishermen feel the impacts of pirate fishing, including the depletion of stocks from overfishing, unfair competition with illegal fish products and price fluctuations created by illegal fish products in foreign markets. Therefore, we need to continue to be leaders in the fight against threats to our fishery in order to maintain a fair and stable market environment for our high quality fish and our seafood exports.

The proposed amendments to Canada's Coastal Fisheries Protection Act would help us to do that. The amendments represent the next steps in our effort to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. There are some loopholes now where fish can be caught illegally and then moved to another vessel, which can then legitimately say that it did not catch those fish illegally.

Bill S-13 proposes a new definition of fishing vessel that includes container vessels and any type of transshipment vessels so that transshipment at sea of fish that has not already been landed would be caught under the act. Also, if a country is fishing outside of the authority or the control of a regional fish management organization, if it is just fishing without any compliance with the international norms, then fish caught by that vessel would also be subject to intervention under the act.

The amendments to the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act would expand our capacity to deal with illegally caught fish from other jurisdictions. We would have the ability to deal with illegal fish product imports in the efficient way required by the port state measures agreement to which we are a signatory.

Canadians can be proud of our already strong port access regime for foreign fishing vessels. Among other measures, Canada does not allow entry to vessels on the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing vessel list of the Northwest Atlantic Fishing Organization, or the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, usually called ICCAT. The IUU vessel lists are a key tool for combating pirate fishing globally. These lists include not only the fishing vessels, but also any vessel that helps fishing vessels engaged in illegal acts. For example, if they provide fuel or transshipping products or packing materials, all of these activities would be covered and included in the list. Arrangements have already been undertaken among several regional fisheries management organizations to share their lists so that members can take the necessary action to deny port entry or services to listed vessels. This makes IUU fishing more and more difficult and expensive.

The proposed changes to the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act set out even tougher prohibitions against the importation of illegally caught fish and other living marine organisms. Contravention of these provisions would be an offence under the amended Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, with penalties specified under the act. Together these measures would help dry up the profits from illegal fishing activities. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in close collaboration with the Canada Border Services Agency, would carry out monitoring and enforcement with a view to minimizing impacts on legitimate cross-border trade of fish and seafood products.

Canada has a large stake in the fisheries and a lot of the stocks we fish are straddling stocks, stocks of fish that move from one area to another in the ocean. This means that to protect our fisheries we have to protect them inside and outside of our exclusive economic zone. When we combat illegal fishing that takes place elsewhere in the world it has a far-reaching positive effect here in Canada.

Preventing illegally taken fish and seafood products from entering Canadian markets is also a priority for Canada's major trading partners. Stronger controls at the border would help maintain our reputation as a responsible fishing nation and trading partner. The amendments to the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act that are before us would strengthen and clarify Canada's domestic rules and reinforce our leadership role in the global fight against pirate fishing.

I am very happy and proud of our government, which has taken action against this global problem that has an impact on our fisheries here at home. I encourage all members of the House to support the bill.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

12:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

Before we proceed, when the hon. parliamentary secretary asked to split his time I should have risen at that time and pointed out that in the opening round for a member to share his or her time with another member requires unanimous consent of the House. Therefore, I will seek that at this point.

Does the parliamentary secretary have unanimous consent to share his time?

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

12:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

12:55 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, as the former deputy environment critic and current deputy science and technology critic, I had the honour of serving on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

The intrinsic value of our marine ecosystems is huge, and so is their economic value. Many jobs and the economies of coastal communities depend on these ecosystems.

Illegal fishing undermines Canada's efforts to conserve and manage resources to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the fisheries and protect marine ecosystems. This government's track record on conservation is poor. For one thing, it is refusing to acknowledge that climate change is undermining our conservation work.

What is the government doing to stop illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing?

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

Mr. Speaker, I think that was the whole purpose of the 10 minutes or so that I spoke. In fact, we have a fairly robust regime already in place, through the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act.

However, there was a realization among many countries around the world that to combat illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing it is going to take a global effort. That is why there was work done on this port state measures agreement. There is a realization that both the flag states, for example, the ships that are flying the Canadian flag, as well as the port states, those states where those ships might offload their cargo, need to get together and work on this. That is why this agreement is put in place.

As I said, there are good environmental, as well as economic, reasons why this needs to be done.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, the fishing industry in the province of Manitoba is actually quite significant. One could take a look at Lake Winnipeg and Churchill.

My question is related to the legislation and whether it would have an impact on, in particular, the fishing industry in the Lake Winnipeg area and if so, perhaps the minister would elaborate on that situation.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

Mr. Speaker, there is, as the member said, a very significant inland fishery in Lake Winnipeg. In fact, much of what is caught there is exported and goes into this market. If there are fish that are being caught illegally, changing market prices, the whole dynamics that are going on there, then I think there would be an indirect effect.

However, this is primarily about fish that are caught on the high seas and are caught illegally, unreported. These actions go against the law of perhaps the regional fishing organization to which the flag state is party. That is why there needs to be this agreement to get the countries together to put in place these measures so that we can co-operate better with one another to put an end to this practice.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1 p.m.

South Shore—St. Margaret's Nova Scotia

Conservative

Gerald Keddy ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and congratulate him and the department for bringing this important legislation forward.

As the parliamentary secretary stated earlier, Canada signed the port state measures in 2010. This is 2013 and it is time to put into legislation ratification of our signature in 2010. We really should not delay that ratification any longer.

The reality is that illegal, unreported, unregulated or IUU fishing is a serious problem around the world. It is one of the main impediments to the achievement of sustainable fisheries worldwide. The estimated economic losses for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing averages between $10 billion and $23 billion per year, most of that in economies that cannot afford it.

Worse yet, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing affects these poorest countries. Their dependency on fisheries for food, livelihood and revenue is high compared to many other jurisdictions in the world.

IUU fishing is not a problem for one country to solve on its own, because it respects neither national or international borders. Where governance is weak and where countries fail to meet their international responsibility, it puts pressure on sustainability of fish stocks, marine wildlife and distorts markets, not just in that specific region but worldwide.

In recent years, the international community has been working to develop global tools to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities. Improving the control of foreign fishing vessels, through a global standard for actions that can be taken in ports, is one tool to prevent illegal fishing.

I am proud to say that our government plays a leadership role in this movement. As a nation with a robust fishing industry, Canada has a strong interest in protecting fish stocks and ensuring fishing regulations are respected. That is why we have taken action and have taken an international leadership role.

In 2009, Canada and other countries approved the port state measures agreement that had been negotiated at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Canada signed this agreement in November 2010 to signal the importance of taking strong actions in ports to prevent illegal fishing, and is now working towards ratifying these port state measures.

So far 20 countries have signed the treaty, 5 have ratified. The United States is currently dealing with its ratification legislation and it is expected other countries will soon follow suit.

Before Canada can ratify this new global standard, we must address gaps in our current legislation. These are the amendments we are discussing today in the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act. Once approved, the proposed amendments to the act and the subsequent changes to the regulations will allow us to meet our international obligations, not to mention better protect the integrity of legitimate activities by Canadian fish harvesters.

Within the existing Coastal Fisheries Protection Act and its regulations, Canada already has a robust port state control regime for foreign fishing vessels. These amendments will make our regime even stronger.

The proposed amendments can be grouped into three broad categories.

The first concerns authorities related to fishing vessels. Currently fishing vessels must apply for a licence to enter Canadian fishing waters or to access our ports at least 30 days before they arrive. Under the proposed amendment, the minister can allow a foreign vessel that has been directed by its flag state to enter a Canadian port even if it has not applied for a licence. In this case, Canada will issue a specific permit for the sole purpose of inspection and enforcement.

While the port state measures agreement generally promotes refusal of entry to fishing vessels that have engaged in or supported illegal fishing, there might be situations where the flag state, that is the country responsible for the fishing vessel, may want Canada's assistance to conduct an inspection and to gather evidence of a violation.

These proposed amendments will also give our Canadian protection officers greater authority to enforce the amended Coastal Fisheries Protection Act and the port state measures agreement.

When the vessel is directed to port under the new permit regime, these powers will allow Canadian protection officers, when they have reasonable grounds to suspect a vessel has been engaged in or supported illicit fishing activities, to inspect and search that foreign fishing vessel and seize and dispose of illegal catch. In the absence of the consent of the flag state, however, a Canadian court could still authorize protection officers to dispose of any catch in accordance with international law.

The second set of amendments revolves around information sharing. To meet the requirements of the port state measures agreement, the amendments provide clarity on the authorization to share information. The amendments cover both the type of information and with whom it would be shared.

First, the amendments clearly outline that the minister can share information regarding the inspection of a foreign vessel, the denial of entry to port of a foreign vessel, a change in a decision and enforcement action taken or the outcome of any proceedings related to a decision.

Second, the amendments clarify that the minister can share this information with the flag state of the vessel, relevant coastal states, regional fisheries management organizations, states in whose fisheries the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing appears to have occurred, the state of nationality of the owner of the vessel, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other relevant international organizations.

As I have mentioned, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is a global threat to sustainable fisheries and to the management and conservation of fisheries resources and marine biodiversity. The sharing of information is essential for all countries to work collectively to address this global threat.

Third, the proposed amendments to the act clarify that the minister can report actions that Canada has taken with respect to Canadian vessels that have engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing or fishing-related activities in support of such fishing. This information can be shared with other states party to the port state measures agreement, relevant states, regional fisheries management organizations and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

In addition, the proposed amendments would give certainty to the ability for Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency to share each other's information related to the import of fish and fish products.

The third major category of amendments concerns prohibitions and related authorities.

The proposed amendments will make it an offence to import illegal, unreported and unregulated fish into Canada. The amendments will also give the authorities new tools to enforce these prohibitions. For example, the amendments will expand the powers of protection officers to inspect any place, including containers, warehouses, storage areas and vehicles. Inspections can be conducted in all ports of entry. This is an important amendment since currently such powers are limited to seaports and wharves. They will also expand powers to allow for entry in search of these places with a warrant and, in certain circumstances, without a warrant.

The Conservative government is serious about controlling IUU fishing. The amendments would allow Canadian protection officers to seize illegal, unreported and unregulated caught fish and fishing vessels. Vehicles or any other thing believed to be obtained or used in the commission of an offence under the act could be seized. These foreign vessels would not only be seized if it has shown that they have been engaged in or supported illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but stiff fines can be imposed. A summary conviction would land a fine of up to $100,000, conviction or indictment would cost vessels up to $500,000 and second convictions would garner up to double of the above fines.

I realize I do not have time to finish all my written text, but I implore my colleagues across the way to support this important legislation. We catch fish on the east coast, the west coast and the High Arctic in Canada and the in-line fishery in Manitoba as well, all important to the local economies in those regions. Those fish simply do not stay in one spot. They swim across international, territorial and provincial boundaries. We have one biomass of fish on the east coast of North America and one biomass on the west coast. They are regularly caught in international or national waters on the Canadian side and it is important that we have a regulatory regime that can address any illegal fishing of this important biomass in this important Canadian industry.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1:10 p.m.

NDP

Hélène LeBlanc NDP LaSalle—Émard, QC

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us is another bill that originated in the Senate. This kind of bill always raises the same question in my mind.

This government may have won a majority, but we have to wonder whether that is truly the case, since it won just 39% of the vote and there was a participation rate of only 50%. I do not know if the government can claim to have the approval of the majority of Canadians.

Why are we seeing yet another Senate bill? We know that most senators are only appointed in return for favours granted to the Conservative Party.

Why does this government insist on introducing bills in the House of Commons that originate in the Senate?

I would like to hear the parliamentary secretary's thoughts on that.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

May 24th, 2013 / 1:10 p.m.

Conservative

Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly tell the member opposite that this is important legislation. It is also, quite frankly, important that it is introduced in the Senate. It makes the Senate more accountable and realistic to all Canadians.

I am always surprised by the opposition members in their preambles to their statements and the lack of any real substance in them. What we have is a specific problem that we are trying to address, and that is unregulated and unreported illegal fishing worldwide. This bill would allow the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, through the minister, to address that very real problem.

If the opposition parties want to take political cheap shots and make it into something it is not, they can go right ahead. It is their time and if that is the way they choose to spend it on the floor of the House, instead of doing something about a very serious international problem, that is up to them.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Mr. Speaker, we recognize that IUU fishing is completely unacceptable. I believe all Canadians have a vested interest in and are concerned about this issue, whether it is the pricing, the amount of harvesting that takes place, or the depletion of fishing stocks by pirates who travel the world with no sense of obligation of management control, or maintaining certain species and so forth. It is deplorable.

It is interesting we have an agreement that was signed in November 2010, I believe. Does the minister have a list of the signatories on that agreement and does he have some thoughts on some countries that he would have liked to see sign on to the agreement?

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1:15 p.m.

Conservative

Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, the U.S. is in its ratification process right now. Certainly, we would expect all major fishing states to sign on to this agreement at some point. This prevents egregious international overharvesting and illegal fishing.

One only has to look at a couple of examples. The Chilean sea bass is a very high value, very tasty and very high-end, white tablecloth restaurant sea food that has been overfished in international waters by a number of countries and pirates around the world. There has been no international measure in place to deal with that. This would allow the capacity for individual countries to deal with problems like that.

Another great example, which the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans mentioned, is the international tuna agreement. We often catch tuna on the east coast of Canada that has been tagged in Portugal, or off the coast of Spain or North Africa.

We have an international fishery and many species here and this is one way of addressing some of the problems with that international catch.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1:15 p.m.

NDP

Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of second reading of Bill S-13, an act to amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, the port state measures agreement implementation act.

Before I get to talking about the substance of what is here, I have to make a couple of comments on the process.

We have a majority government that has a legislative agenda. Obviously the Conservatives are running out of ideas, even though they have asked for and now have debate until midnight from Monday to Thursday until we adjourn the House for the summer.

It seems now that instead of having a legislative agenda of their own to deal with issues that would grow jobs for Canadians, that would address the high unemployment of our youth, that would seriously address the use and abuse of temporary foreign workers, instead of coming forward with legislation that would actually put forward an agenda, they have now been driven to, through lack of imagination, or will to work, to turn to the other House to produce legislation in this House. I am finding that rather interesting.

The other thing I find interesting is that when we look at this particular piece of legislation, it is a bill that is required to be passed so Canada can ratify the UN agreement on port state measures to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

That is great. This will go a long way. We absolutely applaud the government for bringing the bill forward, and no matter how it got here, it is here. I think it should have come from the government. We will be submitting some amendments when the bill gets to the committee stage, because we believe we are here to debate, and together, with all sides of the House, to make the legislation more effective for Canadians. We are absolutely committed, as our previous speaker said, and all Canadians are, to our fisheries.

We talk about our country from coast to coast to coast. We have so much of our national identity, our national economy, our cultural practices tied to the coast itself, whether it is east, west or north. Because of that, we in Canada absolutely value the need to protect our pristine coastlines. We also value and recognize the need to preserve and to fish in a sustainable way so that our fish is there for generations to come, thus not only providing a great delight for the palate, but also a huge economic force in Canada as well.

Not one of us would support unregulated fishing, because when we get unregulated fishing, it undermines sustainable practices of legitimate fishing operations in Canada and internationally, and it presents an unfair market competition to sustainable seafood.

We can never underestimate the importance of the ocean to our food chain, and how significant that is. I am not just talking about the taste of seafood, and I am sure we all love our west coast salmon, we all love our lobster from the east coast and we just love our seafood, but unless we are here and looking at the long-term impact of overfishing, unregulated plundering of the ocean and we put an end to the illegal activities of fishing, we will have a serious problem.

We know that despite how wonderful and diverse our beautiful planet is, we are dependent on the oceans and seas for our food chain as well. We also know that making changes, especially signing onto the UN agreement, will also help fishermen and their communities in the face of unfair competition.

Let me digress for a moment. When I think of the United Nations, there is a bit of irony in this. Here we are debating signing on to a UN agreement. It is the same government that could not even sustain a seat on the United Nations Security Council, and we now sit in the outer room when it comes to making critical decisions about the security of this world. It is the same government that withdrew from a UN convention looking at the impact of drought. We are looking at a government that time and again has been absolutely unprofessional and has provided uncalled for criticism of the rapporteur who looked at the dire condition of the food supply and living quarters of our first nations. When the Conservatives read the report and did not like it, they just ditched all over the report, made personal attacks on the rapporteur and questioned his integrity and ability to do the job.

Nevertheless, when we on this side of the House see good behaviour, we still want to reward it, so we are going to support this bill to the reading stage because we believe it is a step in the right direction.

Our oceans, our fish and our seafood are not confined by man-made boundaries; when it comes to areas like this, we realize how interdependent we all are, and we are dependent on other countries to sign onto this agreement. I worry, and I wonder if my colleagues across the aisle worry as well, about the way they are going to persuade. Is it going to be moral persuasion, saying that it is good for the planet and it is good for us? How are they going to persuade them when we have abandoned so many of the UN agreements ourselves and have even turned our back on things like fighting drought, which will impact the whole planet and not just some parts of the world?

At the same time, I am hoping that the Conservatives will dig deep and maybe go back to some of our past history, when we had unquestionable standing in the international community. Maybe they can turn to that and say that we used to do all these things, that we may not do them now but we used to be leaders in international development, we used to be leaders on environmental protections, we used to be leaders on world security and we used to play a critical role at the Security Council. We can say that because of that, we really urge all of them to sign this new agreement that is so important for the future of our oceans and our seafood and our beautiful salmon.

On the west coast, we are so proud of our wild Pacific salmon, and it is hard for us when we hear of the dangers to that species at times. In the same way, I know the impact of the depletion of the cod supply on the Atlantic coast, and I know the impact it had on me when I was living in England, because suddenly there was no cod available for fish and chips. That was hard, because I really like fish and chips made with cod.

All jokes and personal preferences aside, what we have here in front of us is a piece of legislation that would protect our seafood. I urge members on all sides to support it and remember that this is not the final step. Ratifying the UN measure is one part, and this bill is only the first step to prevent illegal fishing.

Once Canada ratifies the port state measures agreement, we must then take on a leadership role and encourage other nations to do the same. However, we then have to do something else because it is not enough to just pass bills on paper. We have to take action. We have to put our money where our mouth is. We cannot just be satisfied that we debated something in the House and it is on paper somewhere because without implementation this will just be a piece of paper housed in Parliament, in the hands of lawyers, et cetera.

We are not alone. There are others who support the position that we are taking. The PEW environmental group had this to say:

Illegal fishing is a major threat to the sustainability of the world’s fisheries. Some estimates are that illegal and unregulated fishing causes annual financial losses of up to $23.5 billion worldwide and accounts for up to 20 percent of all of the wild marine fish caught globally. In some parts of the world, the situation is even more dire. For example, fisheries scientists estimate that illegal fishing accounts for up to 40 percent of fish caught in West Africa.

It is time to take action.

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation ActGovernment Orders

1:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Barry Devolin

The time for government orders has expired. The hon. member for Newton—North Delta will have eight minutes remaining in her speech when this matter returns before the House.

It being 1:30 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.

Transparency of Payments Made by Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations to Foreign Governments ActPrivate Members' Business

1:30 p.m.

Liberal

John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON

moved that Bill C-474, an act respecting the promotion of financial transparency, improved accountability and long-term economic sustainability through the public reporting of payments made by mining, oil and gas corporations to foreign governments, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Winnipeg North for being the seconder to this bill.

It appears we are at the end of a parliamentary week and this has indeed been a week about corruption, I am afraid. I wish it were not so, but it is.

Ironically, today, the government introduced Bill S-14, which is a bill about corruption and we had quite a number of interventions on that bill. Then question period followed and that, too, was, regrettably, about carryings-on about corruption, bribery and things of that nature. Then we were supposed to proceed with Bill S-14 after question period, but the government switched off that bill.

However, my colleague from the NDP raised the issue of the report of the foreign affairs committee where, in fact, it was also a discussion in some manner or other about the use and abuse of aid money in the extractive sectors.

Here we are, at the end of our parliamentary week, talking about bill C-474, which I have suggested be called the “sunshine bill”. The reason we call it the sunshine bill is that sunshine is light on, how shall we say, murky practices. It is light on goings-on that people only suspect.

However, it also has another aspect. Sunshine also has the aspect of killing bacteria. In some respects when we have legislation such as the sunshine bill, I would suggest it would not only shed light on somewhat murky and dubious practices, but it would also kill off some of those murky and dubious practices.

The bill is, as far as I have been able to make it within our legislative framework, a mirror image of the Cardin-Lugar amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill.

Members will recall that in 2008-09 the world went through a pretty significant financial crisis. The major legislative response by the United States was the Dodd-Frank bill. In the Dodd-Frank bill was an amendment made by Senators Cardin and Lugar which said, in effect, that an extractive company operating in a foreign jurisdiction must, within 180 days of its fiscal year end, produce an audited statement to be filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, which discloses all payments it has made in the course of its previous fiscal year, those payments being taxes, royalties, dividends, licence fees, production entitlements, bonuses, provision of infrastructure and other in-kind payments and a variety of other payments that would be appropriate to disclosure.

Insofar as I have been able to make this bill as mirror image as our American friends have done, I have done so.

In the United States, the sanction for failing to file will be delisting from U.S. stock exchanges. Therefore, we can imagine that the Americans are very serious about corruption. Failure to comply means that a company will be delisted from, primarily, the New York Exchange. Its stock will be worth zero. The company will be functus. That is how serious the Americans are about corruption in companies in which it has administrative jurisdiction.

We do not have a national securities regulator. That case was decided about a year ago. I actually applaud the government's efforts to try to create a national securities regulator. Our securities regulation in the country is a joke. There are all kinds of little silos doing various different things. Therefore, I applaud the government's efforts, but those efforts failed. As a consequence, we had to rejig the sanction to be a fine sanction.

Failure to file with the government in a similar fashion as the Cardin-Lugar amendment would, in this instance, attract a fine rather than a delisting from a U.S. stock exchange.

I know the Americans are extremely keen on this legislation. In 2011 or 2012, I am not quite sure in which was the meeting, President Obama raised this matter with his G7 partners. All the partners at the G7 wanted each nation to commit to legislation similar to the Cardin-Lugar amendment. The only nation that resisted was Canada, which is quite regrettable because we are the world centre for the extractive industry. More transactions take place on the TSX than pretty well anywhere else in the world. This is the centre of the world for mine financing, law firms, accounting and geology. We are the best in the world in mining. That is an extremely important industry to us and our nation's well-being. Therefore, we should also be the leaders in an international regulatory environment for the benefit of our nation and the companies that call Canada home. It is good for Canada, for the industry and it is good for our national reputation.

Unfortunately, Canadians are fed up of reading in their national newspapers and other media about various companies that find themselves on the wrong side of bribery allegations, the latest example being SNC-Lavalin, which is by anyone's standard a world-class engineering firm. However, because of bribery convictions in Bangladesh, it has been barred from competing in world bank contracts for the next 10 years. That basically takes SNC-Lavalin, and essentially Canada, out from competing for engineering projects. Officials have been fired and the stock has been hammered.

One can go through quite a number of Canadian and Canadian-based companies such as: the Calgary-based Griffiths engineering company, which recently paid a $10 million fine for an inappropriate financial relationship with the wife of the Chad's former ambassador; Niko Resources another $9 million fine in 2011 for again an inappropriate relationship with a former energy minister in Bangladesh; and Blackfire Exploration Ltd. is having its offices raided by the RCMP.

This is serious stuff. The common pattern is the conviction gets registered, the officials get fired, the stock gets hammered, so there is a bunch of unhappy people and the most unhappy of all are the shareholders. All of us are shareholders in many of these companies because they are all on the TSX and our Canada pension plan has large holdings on many of these companies.

It gets worse than that. Members may or may not have caught an article in the Globe and Mail last year entitled “Canada ranked worst of G7 nations in fighting bribery, corruption”. In the second paragraph it states:

Transparency International, a group that monitors global corruption, put Canada in the lowest category of countries with “little or no enforcement” when it comes to applying bribery standards set out by the [OECD].

Mr. Dent further states that:

—the United States has prosecuted more than 200 companies and individuals, many of them “a veritable who’s who of the corporate world”...

The United States is serious about this kind of corruption and is very serious not only in a legislative fashion but also in a prosecutorial fashion in trying to deal with these allegations and concerns.

The United States, in a comparable period of time, has conducted 227 prosecutions. In a similar period of time, we have conducted two. We are the world centre for mining. Maybe when things go north of the border, we suddenly become a whole lot better than the rest of the world. I suppose we are entitled to believe in our fantasies.

However, the Americans, the British treat and the Europeans treat this very seriously. Unfortunately, the big hole in the legislative fence is right here. This has reputational damage, and it is not only reputation.

I hear my friends chirping over there because they are a little nervous that they have been caught with no legislative response going into the G8 next month.

If Conservatives do not think this is serious to shareholders, if they do not think it is serious to management, if they do not think it is serious to our corporations or our corporate brand, they should think about it in terms of our national reputation.

Positive views of Canada fell most steeply in the United States, Britain and China, according to the BBC World News survey of 20,000 people in 20 countries who were asked if Canada had a mainly positive or negative influence on the world. It is the first time Canada's popularity among its major trading partners has declined since polling from GlobeScan began tracking international sentiment in 2005.

GlobeScan chairman, Doug Miller, said, “the deterioration could hurt Canadian business interests”. He said, “If the conditions persist, it can start to set in more cognitively and become an anchor that weighs down [Canada's] reputation. What countries have found is that it's extremely hard work to regain trust”.

The industry is actually cognizant of this. The industry gets it. Over the last couple of years, I have been meeting quite regularly with industry groups. In many instances they have signed up for EITI, the extractive industries transparency initiative. In many instances they understand that not only is it important that their company have a good reputation, but it is important that their industry have a good reputation and it is important that our nation have a good reputation.

They have conducted on their own, at their own expense, all kinds of seminars, education things and the government has in some respects facilitated some of that discussion with the Vancouver-based organization which is on EITI.

Interestingly, Canada as a nation, unlike other nations like the United States, has not signed on for EITI. We actually cannot hold our own companies to account, even though some of our own companies have voluntarily joined the EITI initiative themselves.

Joe Ringwald, Transparency International Canada representative and an industry representative, said, “It is become important to become a leader in order to gain this reputational advantage”. He also stated that Canada had become a laggard on this industry, that industry in general was taking a favourable tone to this legislation and that there had been a number of industry players who wanted transparency.

The industry, the various other actors, the NGOs and others are stepping up to the plate, but what is really worrisome is that, internationally, we are about to get one more black eye.

At the G8 meeting in June, Prime Minister Cameron wants transparency to be one of the takeaways from that meeting. He wants the rest of the G8 partners to adopt the legislation similar to the Cardin-Lugar amendment. Thus far we are going in with fig leaves.

Bill S-14 is a fig leaf. It is wonderful in so far as getting prosecution, but it is not much good in terms of generating evidence.

I would encourage my colleagues, particularly my colleagues opposite, to support this legislation. This is extremely important to the industry and extremely important for our nation.

Transparency of Payments Made by Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations to Foreign Governments ActPrivate Members' Business

1:45 p.m.

Mississauga—Erindale Ontario

Conservative

Bob Dechert ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Speaker, the great irony here is the legislation the member is complaining about, the legislation that he says is not robust enough to convict Canadian companies responsible for corrupting foreign public officials, is known as the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act. It was passed in 1999 by the government the member was a minister in. Now he stands here today and says that there have not been enough prosecutions, not enough investigations under that act. It was actually his party, the government he sat at the cabinet table of, that passed that act and then sat on it for several years. That is the legislation the member is now complaining about.

Our government came forward with Bill S-14. The president of Transparency International, whom the member likes to quote, has said that Transparency International is delighted that the Government of Canada is moving to strengthen the corruption of foreign public officials act, the one that his government passed that is not robust enough to do what he says it should do, in accordance with Canada's international obligation and encourages the government to ensure that the RCMP have the resources necessary to enforce the CFPOA effectively--