Just watch me. Last month, honourable senators, Parks Canada released a proposal to dramatically increase the fee structure for using our country's canal systems, particularly for the Rideau Canal. Fees have been frozen since and the time has come to adjust them incrementally to meet rising costs and to ensure the long-term sustainability of our canals. However, there has been public outcry because Parks Canada presented us with a plan based only on numbers and not on the stake we share in our canals.

From Ottawa to Kingston, the Rideau Canal enhances the quality of life for all sorts of people — boat operators, bed-and-breakfast owners, private campground operators, people who sell everything from groceries to camping supplies. It is a big industry and there can be no mistaking it. Honourable senators, you put all of those together and you have a vibrant tourist industry.

Take the season passes away and start charging for each lock and here is what you have. They tried, at first, to impose astronomical fee hikes. They are cutting the industry off at the knees. A couple of weeks ago the Ottawa Citizen 's Don Butler did some math for us and it worked out to an increase of about per cent. Higher rates do not necessarily translate into higher revenue if there are not as many boats going through.

Parks Canada could well price our canal systems and several Ontario towns out of business. Parks Canada should have thought of this in the first place, but at least it is responding to the public backlash. Yesterday, Parks Canada posted its latest revisions to its proposals.

Mooring fee increases have been reduced and one-day and seasonal passes have been restored. This is progress, but more is needed. Mayors along the Rideau corridor are working together in the interests of their constituents. They have been saying that small businesses and transit between municipalities would suffer if Parks Canada went ahead with its plans for still-too-high fees and the elimination of widely used one-day passes.

Part of the mandate for Parks Canada is "to serve Canadians, working together to achieve excellence guided by values of confidence, respect and fairness.

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The Rideau Canal represents many wonderful things. Operating with the same technology that was used when it was first opened in , it is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. This means it belongs to the people of Canada. Parks Canada owes it to Canadians to find a balance between raising revenue and ensuring that the canal remains accessible for all of us to appreciate and enjoy. Honourable senators, until February 18, the government is accepting public input to its proposal by email.

This is not public consultation if it is email. There should be town hall meetings and an open and transparent discussion about this.

Email is hardly public consultation, but it is the best we have. Honourable senators, I encourage you to go on to the Parks Canada website, find out about the proposal and send in your comments.

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Asha Seth: Honourable senators, first, I would like to congratulate the five new senators. Welcome to the Senate. Honourable senators, I rise today to speak about a very successful trip I made to India this January. Our government is working hard to strengthen ties between Canada and India, which is quickly becoming one of the most important economies in the world. This January I made it my responsibility to return to India and ensure Canadians were represented at key trade conferences. My trip covered five major urban centres in India and included meetings with the chief ministers of the states of Kerala, Gujarat and Bihar.

Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala, during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations which gather people from across the world to discuss not only culture but trade. This event, in particular, is of huge importance as Canada was a key event partner and beneficiary of billions of dollars' worth of trade agreements signed at this conference. In the city of Patna, Bihar, I held a private meeting with Mr. Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar, and pushed him to make Canada a partner in bilateral trade, energy and international cooperation.

Kumar was excited to see Canadians so eager to strengthen economic and cultural ties. Gupta expressed his strong desire to improve international exchange programs between our two countries that would allow thousands of students to study at our world-class universities and invest millions in these institutions. This year, as we focus on the economy, I want to ensure we benefit from the relationships created during this trip. The economies of Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat represent trillions of dollars and it is our duty to ensure Canadian companies are able to access these markets.

Catherine S. Callbeck: Honourable senators, first I want to welcome and congratulate the five new senators. I want to bring to the attention of all senators an issue of great importance to my province of Prince Edward Island. The province of New Brunswick and its lobster fishers and processors are lobbying the federal government to increase the minimum allowable lobster carapace size to 77 millimetres by There is no need for such change as officials at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, even as recently as last week, have said that there is absolutely no reason from a conservation perspective to increase the minimum carapace size from 72 millimetres.

They say that the overall lobster stock is quite healthy.

The current size will ensure biological sustainability and there is no threat to the lobster population. Island processors have carefully found and developed markets for the unique product of canner lobsters, and an increase to the carapace size will effectively wipe out that part of our lobster fishing industry. The impact on the province will be tremendous. Approximately 80 per cent of all canner lobsters are caught by Island fishers. In fact, 57 per cent of our entire lobster catch is of the canner size.

Losing that share would gut the industry as a whole. Lobster is the backbone of the Prince Edward Island fishing industry. The industry employs more than 6, people. In November, the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island passed a unanimous motion that indicates the province will not support any increase in carapace size beyond the agreed-upon millimetre size.

Any increase to the minimum carapace size will do irreparable harm to Island fishers.

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A recent editorial in our local newspaper The Guardian said:. Canner and market lobsters serve two distinct customers. Clearly, there's a consumer preference for both. We should keep it that way in the interests of not only the consumer but the industry, which can only benefit from a healthy, diversified marketplace. I urge the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to ensure that there are no further increases to the minimum lobster carapace size.

Island fishers, processers and the province as a whole are depending on it. Thanh Hai Ngo: Honourable senators, on January 19, , the Vietnamese-Canadian community in the Greater Toronto Area had the privilege of welcoming the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper; the Honourable Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney; and a very large delegation of six ministers, two senators, three parliamentary secretaries and 11 members of Parliament.

It was truly an honour for the Vietnamese community to celebrate this important cultural event with the first Canadian Prime Minister to attend a Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival. The presence of such parliamentarians confirms that Vietnamese Canadians are active and integrated in this great land. In the coming weeks of celebrations, the community will contribute to Canadian diversity by celebrating our differences and enriching Canada's cultural mosaic.

On February 10, , the Vietnamese people and other Asian communities will bid farewell to the Year of the Dragon and welcome the Year of the Snake. It is my hope that will be a year of good health, good fortune and much happiness for honourable senators and their families. Honourable senators, as we approach the Vietnamese New Year, which will take place on February 10, , I wish you and your families a year filled with prosperity, health and joy.

Gerald J. On motion of Senator Comeau, bill placed on the Orders of the Day for second reading two days hence. Irving Gerstein: Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:. James S. Cowan Leader of the Opposition : Honourable senators, I, too, would like to welcome the five new honourable senators to the Senate. My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

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Madam Leader, last Friday afternoon at , a time designed to optimize public attention and media coverage, the Minister of State with responsibility for Democratic Reform, the Honourable Tim Uppal, announced that the leader's government had decided to send a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada concerning its proposals for Senate reform. For the sake of the new honourable senators, allow me to remind the leader that it was our Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee that recommended in a report in June that this government should take precisely that step.

The committee in that report stated:. We are convinced that the only way to ensure that the approach that the Government has taken on Senate reform is indeed constitutional is for the Government to refer Bill S-4 —. While we on this side are pleased that the government has taken the advice of the committee, which was supported by all members on this side, why did it take the government five and a half years to act on the committee's recommendation to send this constitutional reference to the Supreme Court of Canada?