Mr. Speaker:

I am pleased to rise today to talk about Bill S-220.

Introduction
In any coastal community, lighthouses are an integral part of the landscape. They are part of our culture, our history as a nation, our folklore, our songs and stories. The close association of our country to our oceans and our lighthouses is a fundamental part of our Canadian identity. Canadians from all parts of Canada understand the critical role lighthouses have played in the very development of this nation. Without these majestic towers and the brave and selfless people who ensured that their lights kept burning, our status as a beacon of hope and safety would never have been possible.

In fact, our role as a trading nation would not have come to be if the lighthouses did not mark the way of safe passage for people, commerce, and opportunity. Lighthouses have for centuries offered mariners around the world safe passage and hope. They were part of the core technologies that supported expanded trade and commerce within and between nations.

Increasingly today they are playing a new and important role in the development of our coastal economies. The historic significance of these light towers to the communities of which they are so much a part is irreplaceable. Steps must be taken to preserve and protect Canadian heritage for present and future generations. Lighthouses are monuments to the Canadian way of life and to the fact that as a country, we depend on maritime transportation. It would be a great loss if heritage lighthouses were not saved. They are invaluable heritage resources and, once gone, so too are the opportunities the represent.

Mr. Speaker, I am truly honoured today to rise in support of this bill that was brought forward by my colleague the late Hon. J. Michael Forrestall, Senator from my province of Nova Scotia who first championed this initiative back in April of 2000 and tirelessly worked to ensure its passage. I think Senator Forestall said it well several years ago when he stated “ For all familiar with Nova Scotia and the beautiful tourist trails throughout my home province, I ask you to imagine the Lighthouse Trail without one lighthouse or its outlying structures. Imagine no more Peggy’s Cove; imagine no more Grand Manan Island; imagine no more Gannet Rock Lighthouses. Forget about West Point Lighthouse in P.E.I. or Cape Spear Lighthouse in Newfoundland; forget about Langara Point lighthouse in British Columbia, probably one of the most beautiful, remote and historically important lighthouses.

Lighthouses have been sources of salvation to sailors in littoral waters for hundreds of years and have served as the centres of our coastal communities. They are symbols of man’s conquests of the high seas and oceans, and in the past have captured the hearts and souls of people world round, as they were the first sight of land upon return to the homeland. No question exists of their place in the human heart or of their simplistic beauty set against the rugged, dark seas. One does not have to hail from the shores of the Atlantic or the Pacific to be attracted to lighthouses.”

As sponsor of this bill to protect heritage lighthouses and also a native of the Lighthouse Route, I am glad to have this opportunity to talk about a subject that is so dear to my heart.

The Bill is aligned with the Fisheries and Oceans Lighthouse Divestiture Program which strives to transfer surplus lighthouses to local communities for continued public purposes.

The up side of Bill S-220
There is no denying that lighthouses have played a key role in the development of Canada as a nation. Indeed, the establishment of many coastal communities across the country was intrinsically linked to the building of their lighthouses and to the harbours to which they guide travelers.

And I’m not alone in my love of this symbol of marine heritage. Canadians and indeed, people around the world, are familiar with the beauty of one of our country’s most famous lighthouses at Peggy’s Cove, whose pictures have graced calendars and tourism posters for years. It is as Canadian as the sight of a grain elevator in a Prairie field of golden wheat or polar bears on a Northern ice flow.

Such Canadian symbolism is enshrined in Bill S-220. It is based on the recognition of the cultural and historic significance of lighthouses as part of our maritime and national heritage. Because of their importance as community sentinels, the bill seeks to provide national protection and processes for disposal to communities for public purposes and alternate use.

Specifically, the bill would protect heritage lighthouses in three ways:

• by providing for their designation as heritage lighthouses;
• by providing for public consultation in this designation process and before the removal, alteration, destruction, sale, or other disposition of a designated heritage lighthouse; and
• by providing that designated heritage lighthouses be reasonably maintained.

Such provisions – indeed, the key objectives of Bill S-220 – are definitely in keeping with federal government efforts to build a culture of heritage conservation in Canada.

Competing demands for resources
The objectives of this bill, Mr. Speaker, are not at issue. There are however, challenges which relate to implementation, particularly in eventual funding requirements.

The bill as currently worded would see Parks Canada, under the direction of the Minister of Environment, managing the heritage designation process. It would have to task or establish a new organization to administer the provisions of the bill including development of criteria for designating, maintaining or altering heritage lighthouses; or carry out research or consult with the public in response to petitions to designate, and applications to alter or demolish heritage lighthouses.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as custodian for most of Canada’s lighthouses, would then be tasked with ensuring compliance with these provisions and securing the funding to support these new obligations. The reality is that new marine technologies such as satellite-based navigation offers today’s mariner’s modern efficiencies that lighthouses never could and these new systems are steadily replacing the need for lighthouses. It is true that many lighthouses are starting to deteriorate, since after allocating resources based on program priorities, DFO does not have the financial resources to invest in assets that are or will no longer be required for program purposes.

However, the Bill would create statutory maintenance obligations that could not be met through current operational budgets. The Bill raises difficult issues that require choices among competing public priorities. The safety and security of mariners remains a primary requirement for DFO. The application of any heritage considerations must respect the department’s financial reality and their ability to make operational decisions related to current and future uses of lighthouses properties and facilities.

We must ask ourselves -- Is it a higher priority for tax payers to invest in replacing the Coast Guard's aging fleet or carrying out ocean and aquatic research or the impacts of climate change? These are difficult challenges and we need to make responsible choices that balance the interests of all Canadians.

The passing of this bill as is would leave both Parks Canada and DFO at a loss to carry out their new responsibilities under the new act without considerable investment.

At present, there are as many as 750 “lighthouses like” structures in Canada, and Bill S-220 would provide statutory protection to many of them. This would, in fact, provide even greater protection than most of Canada's historic landmarks have, including the Parliamentary Precinct where we meet today.

About 95 percent of the cost to preserve these lighthouses would come under the responsibility of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Without additional funding, Fisheries and Oceans Canada would be forced to reallocate funds from existing programs and services. From search and rescue missions provided on a 24/7 basis; to development and investments in Small Craft Harbors; to promoting the sustainable development of our oceans to supporting a $4 billion seafood export industry, what gets cut when the country’s security, environment and economy are at stake?

Let’s take a look at the scope of what Fisheries and Oceans Canada has to deal with on an ongoing basis by painting the big picture of Canada as a maritime nation.

Three of the world’s oceans border our coastline – the longest in the world at about 244,000 kilometers. Our oceans regions total almost six million square kilometers. Eight out of ten provinces border oceans, as do the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. The oceans provide recreational, environmental, employment, income and cultural staples to more than seven million Canadians who live in coastal communities. This represents more than 20 percent of Canada’s total population.

More specifically, the Atlantic fishing industry employs more than 84,000 people and the Pacific fisheries provide jobs for some 14,000 fishers and plant workers. And Canadian sport fishing injects about $7 billion each year into local economies throughout the country.

In 2006, the export of fish and seafood products to 128 countries in 2006 totalled $4.1 billion. British Columbia is our largest exporting province at $987 million with Nova Scotia coming in second at $974 million. Newfoundland ranks third with exports worth $798.2, followed by New Brunswick at $795 million, Quebec at $203 million and Prince Edward Island in sixth place at $194 million.

In addition, Canada boasts the largest freshwater system in the world – with our two million lakes and rivers covering 7.6% of our landmass (or 755,000 square km) – and the worlds’ longest inland waterway at 3,700 km – from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake Superior.

To support the many and varied users of our coasts and inland waterways, the Department is also responsible for maintaining and operating a national network of Small Craft Harbours. With the help of about 5000 local community volunteers (which demonstrates the communities interest and commitment to these types of facilities), these harbours are vital to our fishing industry and other users, but perhaps more importantly, they are often at the economic and social core of the many small and often remote communities they serve. DFO is hard pressed to adequately maintain these harbours. Maintaining any infrastructure in reasonable repair is an ongoing financial challenge and one which only grows, if even neglected for a short time.

So, you get the picture. While DFO may not be a top-of-mind federal presence for all Canadians, it’s important that everyone here bears in mind its significant contribution to this country’s economic and environmental future – and thereby the wellbeing of Canadians – as we move forward with this bill.

Consideration must be given to whether the funding for heritage lighthouses might or will take away from the operating budget for such Fisheries and Oceans activities as enforcement, patrol, small crafts harbours, habitat protection, research and science, and the Oceans Act implementation, which already sorely lacks funds.

So, as much as this government supports the objectives of Bill S-220 to protect lighthouses as symbols of Canadian heritage, this has to be considered realistically within a wide array of priorities.

While celebrating our culture is definitely important to the current government, so are commitments to modernizing the health care system, protecting the environment, restoring the fiscal balance, providing value for money and building a safer Canada. Within these priorities is the overarching commitment of fairness for Canadians in all regions.

Lighthouse Divestiture Program
Mr. Speaker, I think this would be a good time to talk about how Fisheries and Oceans Canada is dealing with the 150 lighthouses that have become surplus due to the technological advances I mentioned earlier.

A divestiture program has been established with principles that are based on the recognition of the important role that lighthouses have played in Canada’s history and on the enduring historical and cultural importance to coastal community where they reside.

DFO seeks opportunities to allow for the alternate use of these structures by other federal departments, other levels of government, or by community groups before offering them for sale on the open market.

The department has divested about 130 lighthouse properties and many have been successfully converted for alternate use as interpretive centres, museums, gift shops, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and other ventures that are contributing to the expanding ecotourism market and local economies.

Summary
I believe my time is just about up, Mr. Speaker. But before I close, I want to remind everyone here today that my comments were in no way intended to question or undermine the value of the historical symbols covered by the bill. My main objective was to underscore the bill's financial impact and other possible implications.

As I said at the outset of my talk today, no one appreciates better than I do the important role that lighthouses have played in Canadian history — in my home province of Nova Scotia, and in hundreds of communities on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and along our great inland waters.
The new responsibilities that Bill S-220 would place on DFO to maintain and preserve lightstations would detract from the department’s ability to provide its ongoing services — services that, as you know, Mr. Speaker, are essential in ensuring safe, healthy and productive waters – for the benefit of present and future generations.

While I think the bill is an excellent first step, we need to ensure that we do not jeopardize DFO’s ability to continue to provide the high quality of services that those — from Canada and around the world — have come to expect when making use of Canadian waters.

I would like to see a better way to preserve the noble intent of the bill, while ensuring that DFO can carry out its role in managing and safeguarding oceans and inland waters and their resources for Canadians.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.