Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking the member opposite for his good work on the fisheries and oceans committee and in the House.
It is a great honour for me to present to the House on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard on a topic that is very important to the Minister and to our government.
The Minister takes very seriously his mandate to review the changes made by the previous government to the Fisheries Act and looks forward to consulting with indigenous peoples, provinces, and territories, stakeholders, and all Canadians to find the best path forward to protect our fisheries resources.
The Fisheries Act is an essential tool to support the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat and the sustainability of fisheries.
Since the 1970s, the habitat protection provisions of this act have been considered one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation. In 2012, the changes to the Fisheries Act were introduced to incorporate a variety of provisions, including those related to fish passage, fish habitat protection, and enforcement.
These changes were made with little consultation or transparency and were poorly received by environmental and indigenous groups, and Canadians in general. Of particular concern was that the changes would result in reduced environmental protection for fish and fish habitat.
The new fisheries provisions have no direct reference to the fish habitat. Concerns were raised that the provisions do not apply to as many water bodies and fish species as the previous regime. Of course, without fish habitat there is no fisheries.
This lost protections combined with program reorganization and departmental cuts to significantly erode public confidence.
I believe that a simple cut and paste back to the previous version of the legislation will not go far enough to protect fish and fish habitat in Canada. We have also heard from some stakeholders over the last months that there are some positive changes that were made to the Fisheries Act that we should consider keeping. However, we also heard that several changes need to be reviewed.
This is also an opportunity to further strengthen fish and fish habitat protection through the incorporation of modern safeguards. The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans is currently leading the review of the 2012 changes to the Fisheries Act.
What is more, departmental officials are complementing this approach by undertaking targeted consultation activities since some groups will be unable or unlikely capable to participate in the parliamentary process, including indigenous groups.
Finally, I would like to inform the House that departmental officials also launched an online consultation tool to provide the greatest number of individual Canadians with the opportunity to provide their views.
The recommendations of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans and the feedback from indigenous groups, stakeholders, and Canadians will be vital to shaping the renewed fisheries protection provisions of the Fisheries Act.
This project is an ambitious one, but an exciting one as well. The minister is looking forward to working with all parliamentarians to see it to completion.
I welcome any comments, questions or suggestions you might have.
In closing, I would like to thank all the members on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard for their excellent work. It is a pleasure working with them and we will make sure that we will look at the Fisheries Act in the most timely fashion possible.