Madam Speaker, today I will be tabling a petition that I sponsored calling for shoreline protection, as well as a series of resolutions in support of the petition, which were passed by various municipal councils in my riding.
The petitioners are calling upon the federal government to implement a shoreline protection program for the St. Lawrence River and take the necessary steps to counter erosion and safeguard the environment, for example, by regulating the maximum speed of vessels based on vessel type and by creating and maintaining shoreline protection works.
The federal government abandoned municipalities along the river and their residents in 1997, divesting itself of the responsibility to maintain the shoreline protection works it built. That is scandalous.
Instead of interfering in Quebec's jurisdictions and withholding the money with conditions, the federal government should look after its own affairs. The erosion along the banks of the St. Lawrence is its responsibility. The government must act and support our municipalities and their citizens.