Your committee, to which was referred Bill S-215, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses, has, in obedience to the order of reference of Thursday, December 6, 2007, examined the said Bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:
1. Preamble, page 1:
Add after line 10 the following:
"AND WHEREAS communities in the areas in which lighthouses are situated have an important role in the conservation and protection of heritage lighthouses and in ensuring a public purpose for them;".
2. Preamble, page 1:
Replace, in the English version, line 13 with the following:
"taken to conserve and protect our heritage".
3. Clause 2, page 2:
Replace lines 3 and 4 with the following:
"this Act, and includes any related structure that is included in the designation.".
4. Clause 2, page 2:
Replace lines 13 to 17 with the following:
""related structure", in relation to a lighthouse, means
(a) any building on the site on which the lighthouse is situated that contributes to the heritage character of the lighthouse; and
(b) any structure on the site on which the lighthouse is situated, the maintenance of which is necessary in order to provide access to the site.".
5. Clause 3, page 2:
Replace, in the English version, line 18 with the following:
"3. The purpose of this Act is to conserve".
6. Clause 3, page 2:
(a) Replace, in the English version, line 23 with the following:
"or disposition of heritage lighthouses;"
(b) Replace line 25 with the following:
"reasonably maintained; and
(d) facilitating sales or transfers of heritage lighthouses in order to ensure the lighthouses' public purpose.".
7. Clause 6, page 2:
(a) Replace lines 35 and 36 with the following:
"(2) The designation of a lighthouse may include any related structure that the";
(b) Replace, in the French version, line 41 with the following:
"critères établis, devrait y être inclus.".
8. Clause 7, page 3:
Replace line 20 with the following:
"whether any related structures".
9. New clause 7.1, page 3:
Add after line 22 the following:
"7.1 (1) For two years beginning with the coming into force of this Act, every Minister of the Crown in right of Canada who has the administration of lighthouses must maintain and make available to the public a list of those lighthouses that he or she considers to be surplus to the operational requirements of the portion of the federal public administration for which he or she is responsible.
(2) A surplus lighthouse may only be designated as a heritage lighthouse if a person or body submits a written commitment to buy or otherwise acquire the lighthouse and to protect its heritage character in the event that it is designated as a heritage lighthouse.".
10. Clause 10, page 3:
Replace line 44 with the following:
"lated structure should be included in the".
11. Clause 12, page 4:
Replace line 19 with the following:
"nicipality or to a person or body that is acquiring the heritage lighthouse for a public purpose.".
12. Clause 12, page 4:
Replace, in the English version, line 22 with the following:
"must provide for the protection of the heri-".
13. Clause 13, page 4:
Replace line 32 with the following:
"(2) A heritage lighthouse, or any part of it, may only be demolished if a public meeting is held on the matter in the area in which the lighthouse is situated.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in re-".
14. Clause 13, page 4:
Replace, in the English version, line 34 with the following:
"house in response to an emergency situ-".
15. Clause 14, page 4:
Replace, in the English version, line 36 with the following:
"14. The owner of a heritage lighthouse must".
16. Clause 15, page 4:
Replace lines 43 and 44 with the following:
"house and whether any related structure should be included in the designation;".
17. Clause 15, page 5:
(a) Replace, in the English version, line 5 with the following:
"of heritage properties; and"
(b) Replace lines 9 to 17 with the following:
"the conservation of heritage properties.".
18. New clauses 15.1 and 15.2, page 5:
Add after line 17 the following:
"RELATED AMENDMENTS TO THE PARKS CANADA AGENCY ACT
15.1 Paragraph (a) of the definition "heritage protection programs" in subsection 2(1) of the Parks Canada Agency Act is replaced by the following:
(a) heritage railway stations, heritage lighthouses and federal heritage buildings;
15.2 Paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:
(b) heritage railway stations, heritage lighthouses, federal heritage buildings, historic places in Canada, federal archaeology and Canadian heritage rivers; and".
Respectfully submitted,
JOSEPH A. DAY
Chair
The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, when shall this report be taken into consideration?
Hon. Joseph A. Day: Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 58(1)(g), I move that the report be placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration later this day.
The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
On motion of Senator Day, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 58(1)(g), report placed on the Orders of the Day for consideration later this day.
Leave having been given to revert to Reports of Committees:
Hon. Joseph A. Day moved the adoption of the third report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on Bill S- 215, An Act to protect heritage lighthouses, presented in the Senate earlier this day.
He said: Honourable senators, I will provide some background to this third report. It is a report on the study of Bill S-215, an act to protect heritage lighthouses. The committee studied the bill as mandated by the Senate and reports several amendments. I believe that under the rules of the Senate it is incumbent upon me, as Chair of the Committee, to explain the amendments.
(1810)
Senator Carney is the sponsor of Bill S-215 and, as honourable senators know, she will be leaving the Senate soon. Tributes were paid to Senator Carney in the chamber yesterday. It is usual for honourable senators to show some sensitivity to departing senators who have a private member's bill before the house and the committee did that during its consideration of the bill, just as the Senate did by referring the bill to the Finance Committee.
Honourable senators, this is the third time that the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Bill has been through Senate and it was in the House of Commons when prorogation occurred. Each time it was re-introduced by Senator Carney with the changes and suggested amendments accepted by Senator Carney. This latest version presented in this new session contains all of those amendments.
At committee, there were further discussions with government officials and Senator Carney. The majority of the amendments that appear in the report were worked out between Senator Carney and government officials. One amendment was to change the wording from "preserve" to "conserve" with respect to the protection of heritage lighthouses.
In several places in the bill, the wording at second reading was "related built structure," in reference to the lighthouse and the related structures. The government had asked that it be changed to "related building" and the committee determined that it should be "related structure." That change appears in several places.
The committee added a new paragraph and I am advised by legal counsel that it would be appropriate for the committee to suggest a renumbering before sending it to the House.
Hon. Joseph A. Day: Therefore, honourable senators, I move:
That the Third Report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance be not now adopted but that it be amended:
(a) at amendment no. 18, in the French version, by replacing the heading « MODIFICATIONS CORRÉLATIVES À LA LOI SUR L'AGENCE DES PARCS CANADA » with the heading « MODIFICATIONS CORRÉLATIVES À LA LOI SUR L'AGENCE PARCS CANADA »; and
(b) by adding amendment no. 19 as follows:
"19. Renumbering: Renumber clause 7.1, the clauses that follow and cross-references thereto, consequential upon these amendments."
Hon. Lowell Murray: Honourable senators, I will not abuse the courtesy and patience of the house. Those additional amendments are entirely at the recommendation of the committee's legal counsel. Senator Day has stated the position correctly. This bill has come back from committee amended. On behalf of Senator Carney, I want to say that all of these amendments were the subject of consultations with her and me and officials of Parks Canada and ministerial staff from the offices of the Ministers of Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, and the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I thank all of those people for their forbearance.
All but one of the substantive amendments have been agreed to by both sides. I simply want to draw the attention of honourable senators, as Senator Day did, to the one exception in the original bill as drafted by Senator Carney:
The minister would have the authority to designate not just a lighthouse but any related built structure.
That phrase, "any related built structure" was too broad for government officials and they suggested "any related building." The term "any related building" was too narrow for Senator Carney. It was her view on the basis of evidence at committee in a previous session that a phrase as narrow as "any related building" would effectively disenfranchise or disqualify 51 of the 52 lighthouses in the province of British Columbia. This is not, of course, an outcome that any of us would wish to happen.
We searched for a compromise between her original draft and the government's suggestion, and we came up with "any related structure." I must say the government could not accept this because the officials said that they could not go beyond the mandate given by cabinet. However, they had no opportunity to go back to consult with the relevant ministers, so I drafted an amendment that passed the committee, on division.
Senator Carney and I, as well as those who supported us, knew that "any related structure" is not too broad and we narrowed it by adding specificity in a definition as to what "related structure" will mean. It will mean:
(a) any building on the site on which the lighthouse is situated that contributes to the heritage character of the lighthouse; and.
(b) any structure on the site on which the lighthouse is situated, the maintenance of which is necessary in order to provide access to the site.
There you have it, honourable senators. I hope that when this bill goes to the House of Commons and when this particular amendment reaches the ears of ministers, they will be receptive, as they should be, to the compromise that we put forward together with the definition that we have built into the bill. This is acceptable to Senator Carney, as the author of the bill, and should solve any concerns that ministers or the government might have about the scope of that definition. I thank honourable senators for their courtesy.
The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion in amendment?
Some Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Some Hon. Senators: On division.
Motion in amendment agreed to, on division.
(1820)
The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the report, as amended?
Some Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Some Hon. Senators: On division
Report as amended adopted, on division.
The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: When shall this bill be read the third time?
Hon. Joseph A. Day: Honourable senators, I move that the bill be read the third time now.
The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Is leave granted, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Some Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Some Hon. Senators: On division
Motion agreed to and bill read third time and passed, on division.
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