North Coast MLA Gary Coons welcomes the federal government's new cruise ship regulations.

"While the cruise ship industry is vital and a welcome sight in many of our coastal communities, we must be vigilant in protecting our pristine waters and coastline. It's about time that that our government recognized that some companies treat our coastal waters as a dumping ground for sewage and other contaminants." Coons says in response to the newly unveiled regulations.

"I'm glad that the Canadian government is finally doing something to mitigate the environmental impacts of these ships, and to bring us in line with the other jurisdictions that they pass through."

"Unfortunately zero discharge of greywater contaminants, crushed garbage and oily bilge water into coastal waters are not covered by the new regulations and must be."

The states of Alaska and Washington currently have much stricter environmental regulations for cruise ships than British Columbia, which, up until now, has only had unenforceable voluntary guidelines. Coons, on a number of occasions, has brought up this concern in the legislature.

"I hope that this step means that the federal government is going to take the health of our coastal ecosystems more seriously in the future, because new 'zero tolerance' regulations to better protect Canadian waters from ship pollution are well overdue."

Coons is happy that these rules are being created, but he worries that without comprehensive enforcement mechanisms they will be reduced to an empty gesture.

"It isn't enough to just have these regulations; we also need the ability to implement them. Whether or not that will happen depends on the willingness of the federal government to back this gesture with real action on the environment. There must be the tools to heavily fine any ocean-going vessel that illegally dumps sewage into Canadian coastal waters, as well as stringent enforcement up and down our coast."

Coons will continue to encourage our provincial government to work for regulations that will have the significant impact that British Columbians want and expect.