Speaker: Ms. May
Time: 24/11/2022 15:15:22
Context: Question
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP): Mr. Speaker, for years the residents of Saanich—Gulf Islands have had their pristine environment, where we live on the shores of the Salish Sea, contaminated by polluting commercial anchorages, which are essentially free parking for freighters. This last month, the Port of Vancouver has been holding what are called “public consultation”. The constituents of Saanich—Gulf Islands do not feel consulted. They once again feel ignored, as the Port of Vancouver tells them these anchorages are essential to the Port of Vancouver, instead of figuring out how to make the Port of Vancouver efficient.
Hon. Omar Alghabra (Minister of Transport, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, over the last couple of years, we have seen global supply disruptions that have impacted our own supply chains at home. Because of that, we have seen congestions at airports and increased vessels that are anchored next to our coast. I have been listening to constituents on the coast, particularly where the hon. colleague is raising the point.
I want to assure her that we are putting together an action plan to address this. We tabled Bill C-33 just two weeks ago. That will introduce new tools to help mitigate the traffic of the vessels. We will work with her and constituents to make sure that we manage this adequately.