Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals promised to make evidence-based decisions. They promised to respect the Cohen Commission. However, Justice Cohen said we must address the dangers fish farming posed to wild salmon. Yet the Minister of Fisheries has actually extended the licences for open net fish farms from one year to six.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's great comments on this. The Liberal members have been raising the issue of resources. I want to ask my colleague, what is the cost of inaction? We have already been waiting seven months or more. It is not expected that there will be any action before another year and it may take up to two years, maybe longer, before a regime is actually implemented.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's comments on the matter. He brought up the issue of police resources and said that the motion would not impact those resources. I beg to differ. If the police were able to move a lot of the attention away from some of the smaller crimes and were able to put the resources into the organized issue, the high drug offences, that is where they could actually make a difference.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, as parliamentary secretary, the member has done and is doing his homework on this, and I appreciate that. Obviously, I have not read all of the reports that he is citing. However, as to the thrust of what he is talking about, there is no restriction now. This is the issue.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, the member's question is important. I know the police and RCMP across the country have effective tools. What New Democrats are saying is that there needs to be action on decriminalization right now so that we can move forward on simple possession of marijuana. That would allow the police to put the emphasis where it is needed: tackling organized crime and the hard or illicit drugs that the member referenced.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford for his speech and his reasonable suggestions and evidence points. I will add to this important motion. I rise today to support the motion by my good friend and colleague, the member for Victoria.

Employment Insurance Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill C-288, An Act to amend the Employment Insurance Act (special benefits). Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that would amend the Employment Insurance Act, to extend the maximum period for which special benefits for catastrophic illness, injury, or quarantine may be paid from 15 to 50 weeks.

World Oceans Day  Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark World Oceans Day, an international day to celebrate our oceans, encourage conservation, and address challenges like climate change, pollution, and overfishing. This year we are celebrating with the theme “Healthy oceans, healthy planet”, focusing on the prevention of plastic in our oceans.

Canadian Coast Guard  Mr. Speaker, inspections of fishing violations off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador have dropped a whopping 50% in the last five years. We have also learned that the capacity for the Coast Guard to respond to emergencies has been weakened. Our Coast Guard was gutted by the former Conservative government's budget cuts, and its failure to update the Coast Guard's aging fleet only made things worse.

Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, it is shameful. The Liberals are betraying our country and betraying our veterans. During the campaign election, the Liberals promised to restore environmental protections to the Fisheries Act. It is even in the minister's mandate letter. Over 35 environmental organizations have called on the government to immediately reinstate previous habitat protections in the Fisheries Act.

Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Federal Court banned fish farms in B.C. from using diseased Atlantic salmon in open-net pens. The risks to wild salmon were, and still are, unacceptable. However, the Conservatives, on behalf of a foreign-owned company, appealed the court's decision. Not only is the Liberal government continuing this appeal, shockingly, it is fast-tracking the efforts to overturn the ruling.

Volunteerism  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in the House to honour outstanding citizens making a difference in Port Moody, Coquitlam, Anmore, and Belcarra: Miranda Andersen, a young environmental filmmaker who raises awareness through social media; Tima Kurdi, whose activism on behalf of Syrian refugee families has touched lives around the world; Léon LeBrun, who helped build our community by establishing Festival du Bois, the local Trans Canada Trail, and the Trails BC network; Sandra Niven , for her work at the Port Moody Arts Centre, Port Moody Ecological Society's Fingerling Festival, and Community Ventures Society; Drake Stephens, for his years of hard work making our community “bear aware”; Don Violette, whose work with the Burquitlam Community Association helped establish a community garden and protect environmentally sensitive areas; and George Assaf, whose volunteer work includes stream-keeping duties and habitat restoration of Port Moody streams.

Modernizing Animal Protections Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Beaches—East York for the work he has done on this bill and for bundling a number of animal welfare concerns into one bill. I know he is well aware, as he referenced it in his comments earlier, of the work that I did in the last Parliament on banning the importation of shark fins to Canada.

Fisheries and Oceans  Mr. Speaker, according to B.C.'s auditor general, the devastating Mount Polley mine disaster is the result of negligence by the B.C. Liberal government. This resulted in one of the biggest mining disasters in the province's history. Fish habitat was destroyed and mine tailings spilled into surrounding lakes and rivers.

Search and Rescue  Mr. Speaker, the Liberals are clearly choosing to ignore the evidence here. During the campaign, the Prime Minister promised Canadians they would reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard station. Once in power, the minister assured Canadians it would be operational 24/7, 365. Now it appears that is not the case.