Madam Speaker, the coastal waters of southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are truly beautiful and home to a vast array of life and delicate marine ecosystems. They are among the most diverse in the world's temperate waters and offer fantastic recreation opportunities, including scuba diving, whale-watching, sea kayaking and coastal cruising.
For untold centuries, these waters have supported vibrant first nations coastal communities and continue to do so today. Unfortunately, the natural beauty of this area is under threat from the presence of large freighters that are using our waters as an overflow industrial parking lot for the Port of Vancouver.
At the same time, the federal government is actively pursuing the establishment of a national marine conservation area here. If the Liberals truly believe in the work to establish this NMCA, I urge them to support my bill, Bill C-250, which amends the Canada Shipping Act to prohibit freighters from anchoring in these waters.