We could call it stable island where it refers to the horses, although there are no stables for those wild horses. That is one of the reasons there are such wonderful photographs.
An appropriate management and governance structure is desperately needed to deal with this vast array of complex operations that each in their own right have tremendous value. However, if we single them out individually, they are not of great significance to any one government department.
We have had the situation where a little of what goes on Sable Island is the business of fisheries and oceans, a little is the purview of Environment Canada and some of it with respect to wildlife and parks. As a result, it is kind of everyone's business but nobody's business in terms of putting in place a government structure that works.
I do not want to dwell on this in the spirit of moving forward. I think we can say without fear of contradiction that the existing crisis with respect to a sustainable future for Sable Island is one of the most dramatic examples of the misguided decisions made at the hands of the finance minister, starting with that infamous budget in 1995. Everything possible was done to find an excuse to offload, to download, to privatize, to somehow, in the name of deficit elimination and debt reduction, shift off the public books the accounting for important functions in the Canadian government.
What happened on Sable Island, which is not the only example but one of the most dramatic examples, is that Sable Island was essentially removed from any real public accountability, with accompanying reduction in dollars and cents. The fact was that any clear departmental responsibility for the overall operation of that centre, so that it was accountable, effective, efficient and its work was known, understood and maintained on an ongoing basis, was sacrificed when the government created the Sable Island nature preservation society. I hope I have that right. I am actually a member of that society because I support its important work.
The decision to create a board in the form of that nature society, a board with no real powers and no representation on the board to link it in any effective way to the respective government departments responsible for various aspects of the functions going on at Sable Island, was absolutely misguided. I want to be fair about this, I do not mean it in a pejorative sense, but some hard-working, well-meaning volunteers have suffered the frustration of being handed over the responsibility to maintain, operate and oversee the Sable Island operation without actually having any effective tools with which to do that. I am not just talking dollars and cents.
The problem is not only that they have not been given anything like an adequate budget but they themselves say, and have said so publicly and at their annual meetings, some of which I have attended, that they have not been effectively linked in any government sense of actually managing the operation to the various government departments which have responsibilities there.
It has been an exercise in frustration. The appropriate role for that voluntary effort through a trust board would be on the public education and public awareness side of the operation. However, when it comes to the extremely important functions that go on there, it is desperately important that the government not only says that now the responsibility for the administration and control of Sable Island is effectively, if this act is implemented in this form, lodged with Transport Canada but that the governance structure created will have the appropriate representation and accountability that goes with the full range of important activity.
I do not want to dwell on the problems but the reason it is important for us to understand the problems is because what happens on that island is so important.
Recently at a public meeting called together by concerned citizens and stakeholders in the operations at Sable Island, over 250 people turned out with almost no publicity in my riding at St. Mary's University to come together and ask what was going to be done to ensure a healthy sustainable future for this environmental and scientific gem. It was rather casually indicated that the government really did not have a problem with there not being a human presence on Sable Island any more and that people could come and go as needed.
That is a financial disaster because it is incredibly inefficient to imagine trying to manage the comings and goings in a safe way. Environmentally it is a disaster because it is a very fragile ecosystem and one for which it is important to ensure that there is not just free range and free rein for people coming and going to trample across the island and jeopardize that future. In terms of economic efficiency, it makes absolutely no sense.
For value for dollar, the Sable Island operation is an incredible bargain for Canadians. My concern about the legislation is that we cannot just say that now it is Transport Canada's responsibility without ensuring that it is discharged through effective cooperation, collaboration and consultation with the many different areas of public policy in the government departments that are involved.
It was a thrill for me to actually tour the operation at Sable Island a while ago, as did my colleague, the member for Sackville—Eastern Shore. The visit cemented our view that this must be addressed as an urgent priority and I hope that will result from the decision to finally clearly indicate that it does rest with Transport.
I say with sadness that the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has been a terrible disappointment in his refusal to really address this issue. He is the political minister for Nova Scotia designated by the Liberal government but he has yet to visit the island or provide any response to the crisis that is looming there. I hope that what we will see in response to this change is a serious move at the highest government level to create an appropriate government structure.
Several excellent and comprehensive articles have been written on Sable Island that I would commend to people to read. There was a very good summation recently in the Toronto Star by reporter Kelly Toughill. There was also a very good article recently by Kevin Cox in the
Globe and Mail.
If people want to understand what an ecological gem and scientific treasury this is, it is really worth them acquainting themselves with what is going on there. I hope we can all pull together around ensuring that the job gets done for the future sustainability of that Canadian treasure, Sable Island.