Municipalities that deem it necessary to regulate speed or block all or part of navigation on the lakes in their territory will be able to do so much more quickly under an amendment to federal law.
The growing number of personal watercraft and motorized boats worries many citizens concerned about the health of lakes, the safety of bodies of water or the noise generated. Until now, residents and municipalities who wanted to act came up against a wall, with Transport Canada and Ottawa having jurisdiction over navigation.
In telephone interview at The Press Thursday, the Minister of Revenue, Marie-Claude Bibeau, who took this issue under her wing as MP for Compton, in Estrie, explains that the Minister of Transport will now be able to quickly publish a decree to endorse a resolution that has been taken in a municipality regarding navigation.
Concretely, this means that municipalities which would like to restrict navigation on bodies of water in their sector will be able to quickly hope for a favorable decree from the Minister of Transport if they have demonstrated that the health of the lake or nautical safety were at stake, then passes a municipal resolution.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue and Member of Parliament for the Eastern Townships, convinced Ottawa to ease the burden on municipalities who want to have a say in navigation on the lakes.
“The municipalities in my region [qui présenteraient un dossier maintenant] can hope for a decree from the minister by next summer,” illustrates Minister Bibeau.
The minister notes that Ottawa retains jurisdiction over navigation, but once “a municipality has had the courage to issue a resolution”, “we can reasonably expect that the minister [des Transports] grant the decree” without delay.
Because the municipalities, she said, “are in the best position to make their decision”.
Mme Bibeau explains that she took “the torch” of this issue after being strongly challenged in 2015 by “the very impactful presentation” of eight lake associations in her region, the Eastern Townships (some of which are struggling with species invasive).
“I then committed to doing what was in my power in this matter, without knowing what I was getting myself into. »
What she was attacking, ultimately, was the law on the merchant marine – designed mainly for navigation on the St. Lawrence River – and which, still today, governs both personal watercraft and small boats on many smaller lakes in Canada than larger ships on the Seaway.
Transport Canada recognized that the current process was too long and too complex. Better still, he recognized that it was necessary not only to take into account nautical safety issues, but also environmental issues.
“It was already there [dans le règlement]but in very small print, and Transport Canada never implemented it,” specifies M.me Bibeau.
“Canadians deserve to have a say in how their waterways are regulated. Today, we are speeding up the process for local communities,” declared Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport.
With this announcement, Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Heritage – also a stakeholder in the matter – believes that Ottawa is reiterating its commitment “to our citizens and our municipalities” and ensuring that the population has “more of a say in say about how to protect our bodies of water and make boating safer.” The ball will now be very much in the court of the municipalities, who will have to make the arbitrations between those who consider it necessary to limit navigation on the lakes and those who will plead for the right to travel on the lakes which are basically free of ‘access.