Mr. Speaker, on April 13, I asked the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard a question about the $6-million allocation in the Liberals' 2016 budget to protect the waters of Newfoundland from a shipwreck.
Meanwhile, I have been asking questions in the House and sending letters to the minister about the Kathryn Spirit for five years now. After the election, I informed the Minister of Transport, the Minister of the Environment, and the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard of this shipwreck as quickly as possible. I reminded them that the Mexican company that owns the wreck had declared bankruptcy, and that so far, the federal government had not allocated any money to remove the shipwreck from Lake Saint-Louis, at Beauharnois. This lake is a drinking water reservoir for the greater Montreal area and, especially, for the people of Beauharnois.
All the minister was able to tell me was that a working group was created in February and that he could therefore say nothing more. The fact that the minister himself is unable to make decisions worries me.
However, I understand that a working group is a step in the right direction. It is certainly better than what the Conservatives came up with in the previous five years. On April 11, the working group informed us that the wreck had been there for so long and was in such bad shape that the group had ruled out the option of towing the vessel out of Lake Saint-Louis. The only remaining option is to dismantle it in Lake Saint-Louis. Three options were put forward.
The cost of the three approaches to in situ dismantling ranges from $10 million to $15 million, so we need to know whether the federal government is planning to pay for it. Obviously, the people of Beauharnois will not be able to foot the $10-million or $15-million bill to have the vessel dismantled.
The minister's response is therefore completely unsatisfactory. The fact that the minister is incapable of reacting to the situation and reassuring Canadians shows a complete lack of responsibility. Canadians have no idea when the government plans to go ahead with dismantling the wreckage. They are wondering if the ship will continue deteriorating in Lake Saint-Louis, if it will continue to list, if it will take on more water after every winter, and if there will be fluid leaks. It is very troubling.
I would remind the House that I have been raising this issue for five years now. This shipwreck is over 153 metres long and contains over 12,000 tonnes of rusted metal. There was asbestos in the boat and oil in the engine room. Several thousand people have mobilized and signed a petition calling on the federal government to invest in this file.
Other issues related to security have also been raised. For instance, the people want to know whether any Coast Guard officers—