Mr. Speaker, the minister talked a lot about the oceans protection plan.
When it comes to ocean plastics and marine debris, a regulatory void, it is not even mention in the oceans protection plan. When it comes to oil response, we can see what happened with the bunker fuel spill in English Bay. It took 14 hours for the government to get there. The Heiltsuk can tell the story about what it looked like for a diesel spill in the Heiltsuk territory and how long it took for an oil response to come. In fact, right now they are stopping the building of more oil response facilities because they are saying it is tied to Kinder Morgan.
It is like the coastal communities have a gun to their heads. The government is saying that it will not protect our coast unless we have a pipeline. That is completely ludicrous and irresponsible. What British Columbians and coastal people want is an oceans protection plan that is there no matter what.
The government keeps talking about evidence-based decision-making. Where is the evidence-based decision-making when it comes to cleaning up raw bitumen? The government has not figured that out.
Maybe the minister could speak to it. He says that he has unmuted his scientists and that they can speak freely. Could they show us the science? Could the government bring forward the scientists who can prove that diluted bitumen can be cleaned up in our oceans?