Tell your MP: Urge Transport Minister to update the Canada Shipping Act

Because of lax regulations from Ottawa, the shipping industry is using waters off Canada's west coast as a dumping ground for its waste – accelerating the acidification of the ocean.

The last time the ocean was this acidic, thousands of species were being wiped from the planet during a major extinction event.

As the new cabinet is getting used to their jobs, we need strong voices raising the alarm.

Under the Canada Shipping Act, ships are allowed to pollute the ocean in all sorts of ways:

• Ships dump BILLIONS of litres of carcinogenic wash water that can be up to 125,000 times more acidic than the surface of the ocean. How? By using “scrubbers,” a device that turns ship exhaust fumes into wastewater so ships can cheat clean fuel standards.
   
• Dumping raw sewage and greywater that our neighbours wouldn’t even think about letting happen. (Under-treated sewage and greywater are contributing to toxic algae blooms, oxygen-free dead zones, fishing closures, and also ocean acidification).

Transport Canada must update the Canada Shipping Act immediately but it will need to feel a wave of public pressure to implement these important changes.  

Tell your Member of Parliament that stopping ocean dumping needs to be a priority for the new government, and that starts with Transport Canada updating the Canada Shipping Act.