Mr. Speaker, here I am again at the end of the night, the last person here, fighting again for coastal people. Well, it is me, you and the parliamentary secretary, but I would rather be doing other work.
For three years, the Liberal government has allowed a company in Union Bay to break apart not a boat but a massive ship that is extended into the water, over the high tide line, and onto land. This would not be allowed anywhere in the world. Even countries that have extremely poor environmental regulations, like Bangladesh, would not allow this type of activity. It is unbelievable that this company is breaking apart a boat that has contaminants in it without a self-contained floating dry dock.
Something we can do in Canada is break apart ships in a responsible way, and there are companies doing that. I am going to talk a bit about those companies, but they are doing it in the right way because they are following the rules. When a company breaks the rules, we would think the federal government would enforce the regulations we have in place or, if we did not have regulations, would create them, but not in this case.
This company in Union Bay is in operation despite the objections of the Province of British Columbia, which has issued two abatement orders, and local communities. The Comox Valley Regional District has an injunction against the company to stop its harmful activity. They are waiting for a court date. The Tla'amin, the Qualicum people and the Comox people have all voiced their opposition to what is taking place. As I said, nowhere in the world would anyone allow this type of activity.
When I brought this question to the House in June, the provincial government at the time had issued an abatement order because the company was discharging effluent at 15 times the limit for copper. When I raised this question earlier in the week, it was because the province issued a second abatement order. This time it was 100 times the limit for copper and 13 times the limit for zinc. The Liberals say the federal government's baseline is not as low as the province's, but is it 100 times lower than the province's when it comes to copper and 13 times lower for zinc? Is that what we are dealing with?
This is absolutely absurd. What is it going to take for the federal government to finally step in? I have asked the minister about this, and her reply is that she is dealing with it; it is an abandoned and derelict vessel and she is getting good at that. She cites the ocean protection plan. This is not an abandoned and derelict vessel. This is a massive ship being deconstructed.
I want to highlight a couple of things. There is a lot I have to say on this and I will keep coming back if I have to. There was some lobbying done by Seaspan. We would think a reputable company would be concerned about all levels of government being concerned about this operation. We found out through an FOI request that it lobbied the province, and the owners of this company, as far as I know from the research we have done, are foreign owners.
We know the Liberals and the Conservatives are corporate-controlled parties, but the depth of this is deeply concerning. Is this what is going on? Is Seaspan putting pressure on the federal government so that it does not take action? Is that what is happening? Coastal people deserve to know.