Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Annie Koutrakis: the government takes any threat to our marine environment seriously. We are aware of and continue to monitor the ship recycling activities taking place in Union Bay, British Columbia. Regarding the oil spill that was reported at Deep Water Recovery on November 22, the Canadian Coast Guard responded immediately. The Coast Guard confirmed that the source of the spill was land-based, from a vessel that is currently being removed from the marine environment by Deep Water Recovery as part of the deconstruction process. While a boom was deployed to minimize pollution, the spill amount was small and not recoverable. No amount of oil spilled in our marine environment is acceptable. To this end, the Canadian Coast Guard has reminded the deconstruction company of its responsibilities under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, to prevent any release of oil or other pollutants from reaching the marine environment. As it is a land-based spill, the Coast Guard will assist Emergency Management British Columbia, which is the lead agency, if requested. Canada's marine safety system ensures that we are ready and able to respond quickly to spills in Canadian waters, which include our three coastlines, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. We have a robust regime in place to respond to spills through our environmental response regulations and ship-source oil spill response organizations on each coast. Through the oceans protection plan, we are establishing 24-7 emergency response and incident management, increasing on-scene environmental response capacity, improving oil spill response plans, acquiring new environmental response equipment for the Canadian Coast Guard, sharing near real-time information on marine traffic with indigenous and coastal communities, and modernizing Canada's marine safety regulation and enforcement regime. As announced in November, under the oceans protection plan, the Government of Canada will also develop, in consultation with other levels of government, indigenous groups and industry, a system to ensure an appropriate level of preparedness for marine pollution incidents. This system will also provide a framework to ensure an effective and consistent response to marine pollution incidents across the country and for post-incident recovery. Polluter accountability will be strengthened, and a formal role for indigenous communities, sustainable funding and appropriate legal protections will be put in place. In addition, the Government of Canada also recognizes the importance of safe and environmentally sound practices for the recycling of ships. Ship recycling is recognized as the most environmentally sound method to dispose of ships at end of life. Currently, there is a robust federal and provincial legislative framework governing this activity. Many provisions affecting ship recycling facilities are governed by the provinces and territories, such as environmental and waste management and workplace occupational health and safety. Federal rules prohibit the release of pollutants into the marine environment. The government knows that we can do more. Together, with provincial and territorial governments, Transport Canada is exploring whether there may be ways to enhance Canada's ship recycling rules.