Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present a petition on behalf of residents of Union Bay, British Columbia, where there is an unregulated ship-breaking outfit doing business.
The petitioners raise concerns to the House that there is a significant risk to workers and the environment associated with ship-breaking due to the presence of a wide variety of hazardous materials at the end of life of marine vessels. Unlike other jurisdictions, Canada lacks standards when it comes to ship-breaking, and there is a lack of domestic oversight of ship recycling and disposal of end-of-life vessels.
The petitioners are calling on the government to simply develop enforceable federal standards to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of ship recycling that meet or exceed the ship-recycling regulations in the EU, to provide assistance through loans or grants to seek long-term reputable ship-recycling companies to facilitate the implementation of new federal standards into operations and, finally, to develop a strategy for recycling end-of-life federally owned marine vessels.