TRCM - Standing Committee

Transport and Communications

Past Session: Past Session:
37-1 37th Parliament, 1st Session (January 29, 2001 - September 16, 2002)
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Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Transport and Communications

Issue 14 - Sixth Report of the Committee

Thursday, October 18, 2001

The Standing Senate Committee on Transport andCommunications has the honour to present its

SIXTH REPORT

Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-14, An Act respecting shipping and navigation and to amend the Shipping Conferences Exemption Act, 1987 and other Acts, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Wednesday,May 30, 2001, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment, but with observations which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

LISE BACON 

Chair

APPENDIX
to the Sixth Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications

While the Committee considers the bill to be a much-needed updating of outdated shipping legislation and, at the same time, a bill which takes new steps in the critically important areas of environmental protection and vessel safety, it nevertheless has a number of concerns which it wishes to register at this time.

The Committee's primary concerns have to do with the pollution of waterways and safety of pleasure craft.

Pollution of our waterways is a long-standing and growing problem. Recent issues such as the import of invasive species in ship ballast, and the disposal of cruise ship waste in the Inside Passage off the coast of British Columbia, are added to long-standing concerns such as the discharge of bilge water. Pleasure craft, though individually small polluters, cumulatively may well constitute a significant environmental danger to a much wider range of waterways.

The provisions of Part 8, which deal with pollution prevention and response generally, come under the authority of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the jurisdiction for this legislation being shared between Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. These provisions seem comprehensive and well thought out. However, it also appears that these provisions are far-reaching and will require both widespread enforcement and education. It is not at all clear whether the department will have the resources to do the job adequately.

The Committee has similar concerns with the provisions that deal with pleasure craft, Part 10. The Committee is informed that the provisions of the bill would give the appropriate department full authority to licence boats, and regulate and enforce safe operations. Indeed, the Committee is informed that this is only an updating of what currently exists in the law.

Not all members of this Committee, possibly like many other citizens of this country, were aware that the boats on their lakes and rivers were operating under the regulation and enforcement of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada. Citizens may not know whether it is the federal government, a provincial government or indeed their municipality and its police force, which is responsible for setting and enforcing safe boating regulations and pollution prevention measures, or if the authority has been delegated from one government to another, or if regulations are simply not being enforced.

It seems to the Committee that legislation which takes care of the problem "on paper", but which in reality is not adequately enforced, does not improve the state of affairs and may even on occasion have a negative effect. This is because the impression can be given that problems are being dealt with when, in reality, that is not the case.

The Committee believes several actions are needed to respond to its concerns. There is a need to clarify the jurisdictional issues. Although the jurisdictional authority may be clear to specialists working in the field, there is a great need for this to be made clear to the public at large. There is a need for the departments to educate the public as to who is responsible and has the authority for the regulations governing pollution prevention and pleasure craft safety, and to develop their enforcement plans and resource requirements in these areas.

The Committee therefore strongly recommends the Ministers to take these actions and secondly, to consider realistically if these sections, relating to pollution prevention and pleasure craft, can be enforced adequately with the resources at their disposal and, if not, to consider what other actions could be taken to ensure the safety of pleasure craft operators and the ecological integrity of our waterways. The Committee will review if these actions are taken and want to be informed of the outcomes.

The last issue of some concern to the Committee is the introduction in the marine mode of the new enforcement tool of administrative penalties. While the arguments in favour of introducing administrative penalties may be convincing,nevertheless their introduction in some sense results in a diminution, or delay, of due process in the legal sense. The Committee therefore wishes to be reassured in its understanding that anyone assessed an administrative penalty would have (after appeal to the appeal tribunal) recourse to the courts to seek to overturn what they see as an unjust penalty.

The Committee believes that regulations are an integral part of the legislation, and therefore will be reviewing the regulations when they are gazetted and asks the Ministers to report to us any difficulties encountered as the regulations are being developed.

In conclusion, the Committee urges the Ministers to take the actions noted above and requests that they report back to this Committee in two years time on what has been done and what has been achieved.