Mr. Speaker, restoring the lost fish habitat protections to pre-2012 levels is not only mandatory, but it was promised by the government. We need to restore the lost protections to the Fisheries Act without delay as there are many other major projects that will impact fisheries habitat if they are built waiting in the wings.
For instance, the energy east pipeline proposal crosses 90 watersheds, nearly 3,000 waterways and will impact the drinking water of over five million people along its route.
As I am sure the parliamentary knows, this pipeline route is slated to cross more than 280 waterways. If the Fisheries Act is not restored immediately, these waterways will be examined under the old Harper regime and fish habitat will remain at risk.
Residents are concerned that the energy east pipeline would not only impact fish habitat and watershed ecosystems, but would impact beluga whales. This proposal under the current Fisheries Act—