Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her service to this House over the years. That is a great question.
As the member mentioned, I definitely have commitment to ocean health and ocean protection, as does our leader. We are committed to investing in the resources, which is what is really missing. The thrust of my speech was about how there is not that investment and commitment to make a difference in terms of illegal and unreported fishing.
When we look around the world at other jurisdictions, we see the opposite. Where there are similar moves to reduce government involvement, we see problems. In Europe, they are investing now. They are hiring more officials to deal with their coastal protection.
This is the wrong direction. Our Coast Guard officials to whom I have spoken have clearly said that cutting the MCTS stations is going to cost lives. This will not help in terms of increasing our surveillance on the waters. In fact, the limit on the west coast over which we as a country had surveillance was 50 miles just until late last year, when it was reduced to 12 miles.
These are both the wrong directions: to shrink our jurisdiction to 12 nautical miles off the west coast, and to shrink the amount of resources we are investing in protection. It is inexcusable. It is not the right direction. It is not what Canadians want.
I know that, on October 19, Canadians and those in Vancouver who were very concerned about the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station and the lack of an MCTS station will have an opportunity to vote in an NDP government to make those changes, to make those investments to increase our coastal protection and communities.