- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Courtenay—Alberni
- British Columbia
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67
- Government Page
- Jun/16/23 12:20:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to table a petition on behalf of my incredibly and deeply frustrated constituents of Union Bay, which has become a test pilot for unregulated shipbreaking. They cite there are significant risks not only to the environment but to workers who are associated with shipbreaking due to the presence of a wide variety of hazardous materials in end-of-life marine vessels.
Unlike other jurisdictions, Canada lacks standards on shipbreaking and unregulated shipbreaking activities, which are putting our oceans, coastal communities and workers at risk, including the people of Baynes Sound in Lambert Channel.
The lack of domestic oversight of shipbreaking and disposal of end-of-life marine vessels frustrates Canada's ability to ensure compliance with its international obligations under the Basel Convention.
The petitioners are calling on the government to develop enforceable federal standards to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of shipbreaking that meet or exceed those set out in the EU ship recycling program, and to provide assistance through loans or grants to long-term reputable shipbreaking companies, like those in Port Alberni, to facilitate implementation of new federal standards into their operations.
Finally, the petitioners are calling on the government to develop a strategy for recycling end-of-life federally owned marine vessels so that this is not taking place in communities like mine, putting jobs and the environment at risk.
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- Apr/17/23 7:36:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am rising again in the House, as I have on multiple occasions, to warn the government of the risks posed by unregulated shipbreaking.
This originates from a question in November 2022. On November 24, an oil spill was discovered on the shoreline of a shipbreaking facility that has been operating since 2020 in the community of Union Bay in my riding. This facility is operating despite legal challenges and warnings of environmental hazards from residents, local government and first nations. Now, a spill has happened, and the lack of federal regulations and guidelines to protect the ecosystem is glaring. The spill has led to serious concerns for Baynes Sound, which is home to over 50% of British Columbia's shellfish production and is critical to the local economy and many jobs. In addition, of course, there is the importance of the ecosystem.
I have spoken in the House about the lack of federal regulation of shipbreaking, as I cited, and have called on the government to take action to prevent such an incident.
I want to take members back to 2016, when I, Chief Councillor Recalma from the Qualicum Nation, our former MLA Scott Wilson, local shellfish owners and workers, tourism operators and locally elected officials had to go out on boats and take media to shine a light on the lack of response from government when it came to abandoned and derelict vessels.
There were two boats that had been sitting there, and the previous Conservative government had promised for a decade to remove them. The boats were threatening jobs. They were the Silver King and the Laurier II, and it took all of our pressure to finally get the government to respond and remove those vessels. What we do not want is a repeat of a long delay. We do not want the Liberals to go the way of the Conservatives and delay in responding to really important issues at hand.
Again, we applied pressure last time, and the government responded. We are hoping it will respond now, but we need to shift from a reactionary to a precautionary approach to prevent incidents like these. Instead of waiting for another spill, the government should urgently ratify the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, adopt regulations comparable to the EU's ship recycling regulations and provide financial support to qualified shipbreaking facilities to help them meet new standards and regulations. We know the government is in a consultation phase with the provinces, but it needs to fast-track that.
I want to highlight that the government's lack of response has really put the local economy and the environment at risk, but also right now we are learning that Transport Canada has no monitoring or enforcement of hazardous materials on board international vessels being shipped across Canada's border. There is only a voluntary certificate, which is done through Environment and Climate Change Canada, and it is effectively a self-reporting honour system. This is just unbelievable. There is the risk this puts on coastal communities, and it is also putting all the risk on provinces, first nations and indigenous communities and on local governments, which is totally irresponsible.
We need to look at what the EU has done when it comes to shipbreaking and recycling, as well as at the Hong Kong act.
I am really hopeful the government will take action and take a precautionary approach, and I am hoping today it is going to give us some sort of path to how it is going to remedy the situation before an environmental disaster takes place, even further to what is happening now.
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- Dec/2/22 11:48:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, again, I am warning the government of huge risks from unregulated shipbreaking. An oil spill was discovered on the shoreline of a shipbreaking facility in Union Bay on Vancouver Island. This facility has been operating despite legal challenges and objections from local governments and first nations.
Baynes Sound is critical to our local economy and ecosystems. It is home to over 50% of B.C. shellfish and is important for herring spawning.
The government's oceans protection plan is nowhere to be found.
Will the government finally act by creating by robust federal ship recycling regulations?
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- May/19/22 10:52:36 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I have been fortunate to sit on the OGGO committee, and we have heard that, right now, the federal government does not have a program for airplane recycling or for shipbreaking here in Canada. There are regulations that the EU has when it comes to shipbreaking, for example, and also standards in the Basel Convention.
Would the member work with me on getting the government to commit to the EU ship recycling regulation program on all procurement for all federal military vessels?
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- Apr/6/22 6:52:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is a situation in Union Bay on Vancouver Island in my riding. Baynes Sound, which is located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, is a 40-kilometre-long channel and is responsible for half of B.C.'s shellfish production. It is part of a 14-hectare provincial shellfish reserve. It is also the last major herring spawning ground in the province and is recognized by DFO as an ecologically and biologically significant area. It is also under immense pressure.
In December 2020, a ship-breaking operation moved into Union Bay, where rusty vessels, ferries, barges and old U.S. survey boats are cut up and recycled for scrap metal. Ship-breaking is an important industry. As we can imagine, we want to get rid of derelict and abandoned vessels and we want to make sure that we do the right thing and recycle huge amounts of steel, but it is also one of the most hazardous industries in the world.
Astonishingly, Canada does not have any ship-breaking regulations, and as a result, companies can quickly set up operations and begin dismantling vessels before regulators are even aware of their activity. Transport Canada says regulations are being considered and should be ready in the next three to five years. As we can imagine, that is not good enough. Canada could adopt the most stringent international regulations now if it wanted to.
Much of the world's ship-breaking happens in countries with poor environmental and labour laws. About 70% of international ship-breaking happens on the shores of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, making up about 90% of the industry's gross tonnage. Around 12% of Bangladesh's ship-breaking workforce are minors aged 14 to 17 years old. In the ship-breaking yards, minors often work at night because they have school during the day, earning three dollars a day. We need to be more responsible for all our waste, including vessels at end of life and ensure that human rights violations are not taking place.
We have a robust ship-building industry emerging here in Canada that we need to invest in, and we could take on a lot of ship-breaking here too. It could be a huge opportunity, in fact.
The risks of ship-breaking are huge. These old ships can contain asbestos, heavy metals like mercury and lead, polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, contaminated bilge water and ballast water containing sediment and bio-organisms. These toxins affect both employees and their families because things like asbestos can be carried home on clothing, and we know what these toxins can do to the environment.
The industry often suffers fatalities as a result of falls, fires, explosions and falling debris. An NGO website, Shipbreaking Platform, lists 429 deaths and 344 injuries just since 2009, but that number is likely much higher due to the under-reporting by these companies.
There are three international conventions regulating ship-breaking: the Basel convention, the Hong Kong Convention and the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The Basel convention was ratified by Canada in 1992 and is intended to stop developed countries from shipping hazardous waste, including old ships, to developing countries. It provides recommendations on procedures, processes and practices to ensure safe and environmentally sound practices, as well as advice on monitoring and verification of environmental performance.
It has been difficult to apply the Basel convention to ships going for breaking, and shipping companies often falsely deny that ships are intended to be scrapped and instead claim they are going to repair yards. Canada feeds into this toxic trade economy by allowing commercial fleets, like BC Ferries, to sell vessels internationally. These shipping companies need to be more responsible.
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