Bringing the oceans to Ottawa: A new Parliamentary initiative to manage and protect Canada’s oceans

WWF Canada

Last night, WWF hosted a reception on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to help launch the All Party Oceans Caucus.  MPs Fin Donnelly (NDP member for New Westminster—Coquitlam) and Bruce Stanton (Conservative member for Simcoe North) are co-chairs with Elizabeth May (Green Party leader and member for Saanich—Gulf Islands) and Francis Scarpaleggia (Liberal member for Lac-Saint-Louis) lending their support as the caucus executive.

© WWF-Canada

It’s significant that a new ocean caucus is forming. It means Canada’s oceans will be getting the profile they deserve amongst MPs, their staff and a variety of Ottawa decision makers. Parliament desperately needs this type of forum to dialogue and tackle the broader ocean agenda. A forum where renewable energy advocates talk to fishermen; conservation interests talk to oil and gas producers; and the shipping and aquaculture industries work together.

Members of the All Party Ocean Caucus. (C) Melissa Sanderson

What’s a caucus? It’s a grouping of MPs around their party affiliation or a specific issue. So all NDP MPs are part of the NDP caucus, Conservatives part of the Conservative caucus and so on. There are specific issues like climate change, cars, steel, the north, conservation, outdoors (think hunting) that have their own caucuses that are either one party or all party. Liberals, for instance, have an auto caucus, there is an all party steel caucus, an all party climate change caucus and an all party conservation caucus. These issue caucuses will gather to discuss their issues and do whatever they can to promote the issue among all members of parliament and ultimately the voting public.
This new ocean initiative is a reflection of how important the health of our oceans is, and will become, to the Canadian economy. How Canada manages its ocean matters:

  • –80% of the world’s population lives within 100km of the ocean
  • –90% of the world’s trade is carried by ships
  • –71% of the earth’s surface is occupied by oceans
  • –Less than 0.5% of Canada’s oceans are protected

© Hussein Alidina / WWF-Canada

It’s becoming clear that an increase of blue jobs and the competitiveness of the ‘blue’ economy are directly linked to the health of our oceans. Whether it’s tourism and whale watching which depend on an abundance of diverse ocean life, or aquaculture which depends on a balanced ocean ecology, or healthy fish stocks that need protected areas for biomass recovery, the economy and environment can’t be separated. It’s encouraging to know that the vision of the caucus is to bring them together.
We need more of this type of coming together on the economy and environment across party lines and on Parliament Hill. Kudos to the MPs that get this, and are working to make a difference to Canada’s oceans.