Hon. Duncan Wilson: Honourable senators, I rise today to tell you about an organization that is vitally important to Canada as we seek to diversify our trade. This organization, Clear Seas, was born from a fact-finding mission to Norway that I had the privilege of leading in 2013 as part of my work with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. This occurred at a time when big and contentious pipeline debates were swirling. We brought together First Nations, industry and government representatives to have a serious look at best practices around tanker safety and oil spill prevention and disaster response.
We travelled together to Norway to get a better understanding of that country’s leading practices with respect to these issues. The act of bringing together diverse and sometimes opposing interests and exposing them to the same information led to shared perspectives in terms of what best practices could look like. This was not just in the event of something like a pipeline expansion but also being better equipped to respond to spills from existing shipping activity along our coastlines.
From that trip and social experiment was born the idea that has become Clear Seas. Clear Seas is a Canadian not-for-profit organization that provides fact-based information to enable governments, industry and the public to make informed decisions on marine shipping issues. Clear Seas fills knowledge gaps and builds capacity in an important sector of the Canadian and global economies. They achieve this through comprehensive research, communications and people-development programs, including Indigenous-led research and Indigenous-focused development.
Just like that original fact-finding mission to Norway, Clear Seas is governed by a diverse and experienced board of directors that includes members of First Nations, the public sector, port authorities, the scientific community and marine-related industries.
Colleagues, this evening, in the Senators’ Lounge, I invite you to join parliamentarians, officials and industry representatives to meet staff and board members from Clear Seas to celebrate their tenth anniversary and learn about the important work they do.
International trade by sea is the only way to fully diversify Canada’s trade partnerships. A safe and sustainable marine transportation system is needed to unlock the return on major infrastructure project investments. Providing Canadians and policy-makers with quality information and research is essential in that pursuit.
Hay ce:p qa‘. Meegwetch. Thank you.