Wayne Stetski

[Petitions, June 11th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am tabling two petitions today.

The first one is e-petition 1465 signed by almost 3,000 people. Basically, these are people from my riding of Kootenay—Columbia who are concerned that when parties and politicians are running for office, they have one set of promises and, ultimately, do not deliver on all of them. Therefore, the petitioners are asking that the House of Commons develop recall legislation to hold all of us accountable for the promises we make during elections.

[The Environment, June 8th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is spending $4.5 billion of taxpayer money, our money, to buy a 65-year-old leaky pipeline. Many Canadians do not realize that the pipeline runs through Jasper National Park and B.C.'s Mount Robson Provincial Park. The government claims it will prioritize ecological integrity, but environmental leaders do not ram new pipelines through national and provincial parks.

Can the minister explain how buying and expanding a pipeline will protect the ecological integrity of Jasper National Park?

[Fisheries Act, June 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to complete the B.C. roster this evening.

I used to be the regional manager for southeastern British Columbia in the Ministry of Environment. When I first became regional manager, there were four federal fisheries officers working in southeastern B.C. The plan was to have 12, six biologists and six enforcement officers, but by the time the Harper Conservative government was done, there were zero fisheries employees of any kind in the southern interior.

I would like to ask my colleague whether he is hopeful that, along with this bill, new resources will be coming to British Columbia to better manage our fish in the interior as well.

[Foreign Affairs, June 7th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the government has begun negotiations with the United States on the future of the 54-year-old Columbia River Treaty. During the original negotiations, more than 2,000 people were forced to relocate as rich farmland and valuable riparian areas were sacrificed, and indigenous people did not have their voices heard at all.

Now it is 2018 and despite the government's promises for a new relationship with first nations, they are not being offered a seat at the table. Will the government take immediate action to ensure that first nations are at the table for the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty?

[Criminal Code, June 5th, 2018]

The question is for the member, absolutely.

I was in a court with a constituent recently, and the woman ahead of us was standing before the judge. She was charged with two counts of shoplifting. The judge said to her, “I haven't seen you for a while. You've lost a lot of weight.” She said, “Yes, Your Honour, I've lost about 80 pounds. I'm starving. I'm trying to live on disability of about $900 a month.”

She had shoplifted in a food store in Cranbrook and she had shoplifted some clothing from a Walmart store. The judge said, “I understand your taking the food, but I don't understand why you stole the clothes.” She said, “My other clothes wouldn't fit, Your Honour. I lost 80 pounds.” The judge looked at her and said, “I don't know what to do with you.”

Could the member tell us if there is anything in this legislation that would help the judge decide what to do in situations like that?

[Criminal Code, June 5th, 2018]

I will do it sideways. As a question for you, I was in court with a constituent recently—

[Criminal Code, June 5th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I have a question, and I really do not know whether you will have an answer or not.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, June 5th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in my riding of Kootenay—Columbia, there were protest rallies held in both Cranbrook and Nelson against the $4.5 billion going to the pipeline. When I talk to people in my constituency, they tell me they would prefer to see $4.5 billion going to actually implement universal pharmacare, not just talk about it; provide a national $15-a-day day care subsidy across Canada; provide true wage equity for women across the country, and get serious about equality for women; provide clean drinking water for first nations reserves; properly pay our public servants and get the Phoenix pay system on track; provide more money for seniors and more money to rural infrastructure, and not into a Canada infrastructure bank, which because of the minimums then takes all the money away from small rural communities like mine.

Would the member not agree that there were lots of better ways to use $4.5 billion than buying a 65-year-old pipeline?

[Endangered Whales, June 4th, 2018]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in favour of Motion No. 154 to study how we can better protect and recover the St. Lawrence estuary beluga and the North Atlantic right whales on our east coast, and the southern resident killer whales on our west coast.

It might seems strange that somebody whose riding is comprised mostly of mountains, including the Rockies, the Selkirk Mountains, and the Purcell Mountains, is up here speaking on whales. However, I have a special affinity for whales.

When I was taking my Bachelor of Science degree in ecology from the University of Manitoba, in the summers I worked as a park naturalist at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Whales were absolutely an important part of our lives, of the visitor experience, and of the ecology of the west coast of Vancouver Island.

This was true of gray whales in particular. Gray whales spend their winters off the coast of Baja California, and their summers off the coast of Alaska. There was a group of six to eight gray whales that spent their summers off Long Beach, so we got the opportunity to spend a little time with them, for the first time, and to study what they were doing there. We donned scuba gear and went down to the bottom of the bay at Long Beach to see what they were feeding on. We took photographs of the gray whales to start identifying them. It was a very exciting part of the visitor experience, and of course whenever killer whales showed up on the west coast, the excitement would just ripple through all the people who lived there, as well as the people who were visiting.

It is really important to have a special affinity for whales, and we absolutely need to do better for them.

I have some interesting facts. Are members aware that whales are, in fact, born tail first? Whales sleep with one brain hemisphere at a time, which allows them to come up for air while they sleep. Also, the accumulated wax in a whale's ear can be used to tell its age and any toxins it may have encountered.

Although there is still so much we do not know about whales, anyone knowledgeable about these creatures would tell us that they are incredibly intelligent. It has been demonstrated that whales are very innovative in their hunting methods, often hunting collectively. I am sure some members have seen the video of a pod of whales working together to knock a lonely seal off a patch of ice. Scientists have also observed that whales communicate with a very complex language. Many members may have heard underwater recordings of whales speaking to one another. Whales also show a variety of emotions, ranging from joy to grief. There is a documented incident in which 30 false killer whales from a pod stayed with an injured member for three days in shallow waters until it died. The whales were willing to risk their lives in order to comfort one of their own.

Despite the whale's many fascinations, humanity's carelessness has allowed multiple species to become endangered. For example, the noise pollution caused by oil and gas developments and tanker traffic can damage whales' hearing and communication. This can prevent their use of breeding and feeding grounds and can disturb their migratory path. Furthermore, Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline project will increase oil traffic sevenfold along British Columbia's coast, increasing the possibility of collisions with ships and a catastrophic spill of raw bitumen.

Collisions with ships, entanglement in fishing gear, and pollution have caused the deaths of many whales. The southern resident killer whale is now on the endangered species list, with only 76 whales alive today. Only 450 North Atlantic right whales and 900 St. Lawrence estuary beluga whales remain.

Whales are vital to maintaining the food chain and ensuring that overpopulation in the ocean does not occur. A news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada on August 8, 2017 stated, “Whales are critical to our marine ecosystems. As they are a key part of the marine food web, the health of these marine mammal populations is a key indicator of the health of our coastal waters.”

It is important that we work to preserve our delicate ecosystems, on land as well as on water. Without that protection, animals and plants are easily susceptible to endangerment and even extinction.

This kind of complex system is in jeopardy in my riding, Kootenay—Columbia, where the population of mountain caribou is in extreme danger due to human activity. Forest fires, old growth timber harvesting, motorized recreation, and predators all impact caribou. Without caribou, the whole ecosystem in my part of the world will be impacted, and the quality of our wilderness sadly diminished. If we do not work to protect the whales, the same thing can occur.

If the ecological importance and the intelligence of whales are not enough to earn members' commitment, then perhaps their economic importance will do so. According to an article in the online magazine Seeker, the whale-watching industry generated $2 billion in revenue in 2009, attracting 13 million ecotourists. The whale-watching industry also helped boost the local economy of Digby Neck and the islands. While the nearest whale feeding and breeding grounds are nowhere near my riding, Kootenay—Columbia, my constituents feel that whales are vital to our province, our economy, and our country.

Turning a blind eye to the tragic deaths of the St. Lawrence estuary beluga, the southern resident killer whales, and the North Atlantic right whales would be a tremendous mistake. Our desire for oil and our carelessness with fishing nets should not cost the lives of hundreds of whales. Volunteer groups, such as the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, should not have to risk their lives responding to dozens of reports of whales caught in fishing nets. The deaths of these whales could have been prevented.

Motion No. 154 is an attempt to prevent further deaths from occurring. My NDP colleagues and I support Motion No. 154. The study that would come from this motion would help identify steps to protect and help whales in their recovery and identify the impact of human activity on their survival. This motion was introduced following the deaths of 12 North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters and four in American waters in the last year, in the span of about seven months. That is roughly 3.5% of the population, the equivalent of suddenly losing 1.25 million Canadians. We must do better.

Despite the useful information that would be realized through the study, I still have a few concerns with this motion. The Species at Risk Act provides for taking immediate action on such matters. The government should be using that route for whales, issuing an emergency order. We would also like the government to take action on protecting the most vulnerable whale species immediately, not wait for the outcome of the committee study, which would not be completed until the end of the calendar year.

According to Hussein Alidina, lead specialist in ocean conservation with the World Wildlife Fund Canada, the motion “doesn’t provide the kind of action we need immediately to recover the orcas”. More research is not enough to save the orcas, which are on the brink of extinction. Concrete action must be taken. Whale-watching must be limited when they are foraging, and other measures must be implemented within the next few months, in time for the chinook feeding season in the Salish Sea.

The southern resident killer whale was listed under the Species at Risk Act initially in 2003, and action has yet to be taken. On March 15, 2018, Alidina said, “We waited 14 years for an action plan and we’re still struggling to get action.... It’s kind of ridiculous to see how slow things are here. We need to do better—we have a responsibility to do better.” Hussein Alidina is right. We need to do better. We need to expedite the action and do what we can to save our whales.

In a letter to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Aaron Hill, director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, expressed that he felt the minister was not fulfilling his commitment to restore the chinook salmon population, putting the southern resident killer whales at a greater risk than they already are. Efforts must be made to protect not only the whales but their food supply and habitat.

With every day we wait for the committee to begin its work, we risk losing more of our gentle giants. For species that are barely surviving, we do not have time to wait. Just this past weekend, an autopsy found eight kilograms of plastic in the stomach of a whale found dead on the beach in Thailand. Globally, eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year, killing marine life. Thanks to my colleague, the member of Parliament for Courtenay—Alberni, and the motion he has put forward, Motion No. 151, there is hope for a plastic-free ocean.

The government must act immediately to give these whales a fighting chance. In his 1995 Margaret Laurence lecture, titled “A Writer's Life”, Farley Mowat said, “I have tried to be a spokesman for the other beings who have no voice in how we treat them.” We must all be spokespersons for the whales, because they cannot tell us where they hurt or point the finger at who hurt them. We must not take advantage of their silence. We must use our voices to protect them. I want the opportunity to take my grandkids out to the waters of B.C. to show them the beautiful southern resident killer whales, and I believe other members do as well. Let us all give our support to Motion No. 154.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2018, No. 1, May 31st, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, I live in British Columbia and I have for many years. Of course, we have had a carbon tax in place for well over a decade. When I was mayor of Cranbrook, we used to be able to take the money we would have had to pay for carbon taxes and reinvest it in improvements in the city to reduce heat loss or put in charging stations for electric vehicles. At worst, I guess it was a balance. At best, we were reinvesting in a better future.

Over the last year and a half, I held three sessions with local business people in three different communities. I invited the mayor and the MLA, and then I invited small businesses to come and meet with all three levels of government at the same time to try to maximize the use of their time. Not once did a carbon tax come up as an issue from any of the small businesses we met with.

Putting carbon taxes aside, what would the member have liked to have seen in this budget to help small businesses?