Mr. Speaker, I want to make a point of clarification at the beginning. I am not the member for Cape Breton—Canso and have not been for a long time. However, had he been given the opportunity to speak, and had he known what he was supposed to be speaking about, I am sure he would have enraptured this entire chamber with his eloquence. Unfortunately, members are stuck with me.
I would like to compliment my colleague from Laurentides—Labelle on this initiative. It is an important initiative. We all relate it to our personal experiences.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, you and I live in some proximity to each other. You have a very famous facility just north of Lake Orillia, and I cottage somewhat east of that. I would say it is about $200,000 east. We all have traffic. You, in particular, have traffic that comes off Lake Simcoe, up Lake Couchiching, and into the system. I have a lesser amount of traffic, but it is nevertheless a great deal of traffic. We will have both noticed that the boats are not getting any smaller, and the Sea-Doos are not getting any quieter, which is taking a toll on some pretty nice lakes and rivers in our respective communities.
That is the issue my colleague is trying to address. To rein in the excesses of some cottagers, a very small group of cottagers, the municipalities sometimes struggle to manage traffic flow. I know that the OPP intervenes from time to time, but that is an intervention on the basis of safety and criminality.
My colleague's concern is that there are vessels that are getting to the point that they are actually doing environmental damage, just by virtue of their size and speed. When a municipality wishes to rein in that behaviour, it finds that to obtain jurisdiction in the area, it has to seek the permission of the federal government.
I know that colleagues have some frustration trying to get things done around here. When we try to get something such as this done, there is buck-passing of a major order. What my colleague is trying to do, and I congratulate him for it, is slice that Gordian knot and get the buck to stop at the municipality or in the local jurisdiction that is most relevant to the lake or the river, as the case may be. I am mixing my metaphors, and I apologize for that. When the buck stops with the municipalities, they can impose regulations and restrictions, which would facilitate the peace, harmony, and good feelings that are generally associated with the lakes and rivers of Ontario, in our case, of Quebec, in my colleague's case, and certainly out in British Columbia and various other places.
We find ourselves in sympathy and in support of this initiative. We have some concerns about how this would occur and how we would transfer the jurisdiction from the federal government to the municipalities. Particularly in Quebec, some transfers would be a challenge. For us the issue is the how rather than the principle of it, but we certainly will find ourselves in a position to support the motion.
The member is right to say that no one regime fits all. Just going from lake to lake, there are differences in attitudes among cottagers. Some want a quiet, peaceful lake that is motor-free, and others want lakes where they can run around on Sea-Doos and tow skiers behind big boats.
Let me end with that. This is a good initiative. It is an initiative I hope money will flow to, because public funds are scarce. We would encourage him in his efforts to pursue this, and I encourage all members to support this motion.
I am thankful for the time and attention, and I only wish I was half as eloquent as the hon. member for Cape Breton—Canso.