Fisheries committee  I'll have to go back to the section on the interim protection order. In the interim protection order in Bill C-55, as it reads right now, the minister has to list ongoing activities. If an ongoing activity is an extractive activity, he would have to list it as an ongoing activity.

Fisheries committee  I may also defer to my colleagues, if they have some knowledge of this. I'm not an expert in the law of the sea, but given that the regulatory-making authority applies not only to Canada's territorial waters, but also to the exclusive economic zone, I'm not sure if this would create a conflict with the rights of innocent passage.

Fisheries committee  Our department might not be able to answer that question. I think it would be more appropriate to ask Transport, Justice, or Global Affairs.

Fisheries committee  I am not aware of other legislation being contemplated right now on that matter either in Parliament or in the government.

Fisheries committee  My only comment with regard to the question was related to the definition of “ongoing” with regard to paragraph 35.1(1)(c). It captures circumstances in which an activity may not have taken place in the last year but has been authorized nonetheless. My concern was that in certain fisheries, the fishery may not be prosecuted every year.

Fisheries committee  Certainly, Mr. Chairman. If you recall when I was here with Mr. Stringer and Mr. Morel, this issue did come up in terms of the question. I pointed out the way we go about recommending marine protected areas and the application of the Oceans Act. All activities are prohibited until they are determined to be compatible with the conservation objectives of the marine protected area.

Fisheries committee  What I said was when we determine what activities could be permitted in an MPA once the conservation objectives have been established.

Fisheries committee  No, all I'm saying is that with the way we proceed in creating a marine protected area, the first thing we do is look at the ecological features of the area and say that it is an area that's worth protecting. Then we look at activities that could affect that area and determine whether or not they would affect the conservation objectives.

Fisheries committee  No, what I'm saying, Mr. Chair, is that when we initially identify an area for protection, the first thing we do is to try to establish the conservation objectives. By the time we get to the stage of proposing an area for designation, we would have already taken into account socio-economic impacts, cultural impacts, etc., so we would alter either the area or the activities that we permit in that area insofar as they're not incompatible with the conservation objectives.

Fisheries committee  Excuse me, Mr. Chair, but the wording in French is “une zone de protection marine”. That's the term used in French. That's referring to a marine protected area under the Oceans Act, whereas the context in which the amendment is made is in networks of marine protected areas, which include other forms of marine protection besides those under the Oceans Act.

Fisheries committee  I can answer Mr. Arnold's question.

Fisheries committee  He was originally asking in the context of interim protection MPAs with regard to the minister's order. Bill C-55 currently says that when the minister makes an order—he has the option not to—he shall list the classes of activities that are ongoing activities. If there is an ongoing activity, the ministerial order can't restrict that, with the exception of paragraph (c) where, as he is also the minister responsible for fisheries, he may curtail fishing activities under his purview as the minister responsible for fisheries management.

Fisheries committee  That's correct. When we propose a regulatory package, either through a ministry order—because that's a regulatory instrument—or through a Governor in Council regulation, the package has to refer to subsection 35(1) of the Oceans Act and say that we are creating this regulation for this reason.

Fisheries committee  Mr. Chair, certainly there would be circumstances where the minister may want to do that, especially if we're talking, for example, about areas of the ocean that we may have discovered have important ecological features where there has not yet been any human activity. One of the examples that I think we spoke about when we were presenting the bill was when the minister was here, he was explaining the Hecate Strait marine protected area.

Fisheries committee  It would allow the minister to propose to the Governor in Council a marine protected area based on ecological integrity as a criteria among other reasons.