Transport committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before you to comment on Bill C-64 and the issue of abandoned vessels. Let me start by complimenting Minister Garneau and his team at Transport Canada for drafting Bill C-64. I also think I

Transport committee  I'm done.

Transport committee  I wanted to say thank you.

Transport committee  A million and two.

Transport committee  Though I'm not an expert in the area of insurance, I think that the 300-tonne limit has been picked for a reason. I think you will probably find that working vessels, fishing boats and tugs, for example, will be carrying insurance for their own reasons. I'm not sure that changing

Transport committee  I think recreational vessels should be treated like vehicles.

Transport committee  Yes, they should have insurance and all of the regulations to go along with this, so if you want to have your vessel licensed, you should have to have insurance.

Transport committee  No, actually, the vast majority are pleasure craft.

Transport committee  They are. Actually, with the permission of the chair, I did bring a few pictures, which would take about three minutes to go through for the enlightenment of the committee, to see what we're talking about.

Transport committee  Thank you.

Transport committee  Technically under Bill C-64, they would be called dilapidated. Some in fact are hanging on by a thread, so to speak. This is a picture of the Ladysmith Community Marina. Our marina is in the front, and the town is in the back. Here are couple of pictures just to show you what

Transport committee  It`s a crown water lot at this point, owned by the province.

Transport committee  It's difficult because we're not a harbour authority, so we don't have the resources. The town doesn't. We're a not-for-profit organization, so we don't have the resources or the authority. I don't actually think giving the town or a not-for-profit the designation of a harbour au

Transport committee  I think back to my previous comment. It's a federal jurisdiction that needs to take control of this. We don't want to send them down to Chemainus or over to another community. It doesn't do anything for anybody.

Transport committee  I think you have to, otherwise it could be another couple of years of negotiation between the province and the federal government, with no action.