Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be able to rise in the House today to follow up on a question I asked all the way back on March 26, on an issue that is of great concern to the coastal communities on Vancouver Island and particularly in the riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.

At the time, I was raising an issue that prompted an investigation by the Transportation Safety Board. It was concerning a large bulk carrier, which dragged its anchor and drifted over one kilometre, 1,200 metres to be specific, to hit another vessel. We are very lucky that no damage was done at that time, and we are extremely lucky that neither of the two vessels involved found their way onshore, where the results could have been much worse.

The TSB report also indicated that between January 2015 and March 2020, there were over 100 incidents of ships dragging anchors along British Columbia's coastline. These can result in collisions, groundings or extreme environmental emergencies.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to visit our coastline in and among the Gulf Islands, the coast of Vancouver Island, will know just how precious this coastline is, not only to the residents but also to our country as a whole. It is an incredible marine environment. It is something that attracts visitors from across the country and from all around the world, both for the ecological diversity that exists there and the incredible recreational opportunities that abound.

At the heart of this is the fact that we have an interim anchorages protocol in place. It has been in place since February 2018, so it is not looking like it is much of an interim measure anymore. In fact, it is starting to really gather the air of permanence about it.

Residents have had the opportunity to participate in discussions about the interim anchorages protocol at the oceans protection plan dialogue forums, but it has been continually noted how inadequate the protocol has been because we still have a lot of residents who are complaining about noise pollution and light pollution of these incredibly large bulk carriers, which are anchored sometimes just a number of metres away from the coastline. Therefore, it is creating a lot of strife and a lot of discord among the residents here.

It is true not only for residents but also for local first nations on whose traditional and unceded territories these waters lie. Of course, these anchorages were established without free, prior and informed consent. We have messages from Cowichan tribes, the Penelakut, the Lyackson, the Halalt and the Stz'uminus in the area, who have clearly communicated to the Government of Canada that they do not want these carriers in their waters.

The other point I would make is that this particular area off the coast of Vancouver Island and in among the Gulf Islands is being proposed as a designated national marine conservation area. In fact, the private member's bill that I introduced in this Parliament, Bill C-250, is pretty much taking the exact same boundaries as the proposed NMCA and trying to bring about a prohibition of anchorages there.

I would very much like to see the government commit to either supporting that legislation, or at least bring forward for my residents an action plan that will show a noticeable decrease in how these anchorages are used and the frequency by which they are used because, frankly speaking, we have kind of had it up to here with the inaction on this.

Alistair MacGregor

$600,966.00