Aug 27, 2024

To date, we have been copied on five letters from our readers who have used the template letter we provided previously, to assist in easily writing to the Minister of Transportation to request that funding be reinstated for the CanBoat Distress Flare Collection Program.

These letters are very much appreciated, but five letters will not likely change the government’s position.

During the summer of 2024 in Boating Industry Canada, we have written editorial several times about the problem of safe and environmentally sound disposal for the pyrotechnic distress flares that Canadian federal regulations require boaters to carry if their boat is above a certain size or if they venture a certain distance from shore.

Pyrotechnic distress flares expire after about four years and expired flares can start to weep toxic chemicals creating a significant safety hazard. Unfortunately, safe disposal options are disappearing due to the costs and restrictions for handling dangerous goods (distress flares are explosives).

For over a decade, Transport Canada, under the Boating Safety Contribution Program (BSCP) has provided funding for the distress flare collection and disposal program. More than 200,000 marine distress flares or all types were collected and properly disposed of.

Remember that municipal waste programs will no longer accept these for disposal and neither will local fire departments or police. Individuals are forbidden from setting distress flares off unless there is an actual emergency and these flares are never to be dumped in the water or disposed of in household waste due to the danger of explosion. Although the flare manufacturers will accept the return of their own brand of expired flares, because they are explosives, there are few options left for transporting or shipping flares back to the manufacturers.

Boaters need a safe way to dispose of their expired flares and until this year, CanBoat (previously called Canadian Power Squadrons) supported by a grant from Transport Canada to assist in funding a Canada-wide distress flare disposal collection, delivered that safe disposal.

That funding was not renewed for this year, but CanBoat is applying for the funding to be reinstated and we believe it’s very important that real boaters across Canada let their voices be heard by sending a letter to the Minister of Transportation, and also to the Minister of Environment and Climate, asking that this (comparatively modest amount) of funding be reinstated for 2025.

We have developed easy-to-use letters that are addressed and ready for your boating customers to personalize and send. Download the letters here.

Below that is a link to the templated letter that we have shared with Boating industry members across Canada as well as Boating consumers across Canada. Minister Pablo Rodriguez’ email address is included below as well as the contact for Steven Guilbeault the Minister of Environment and Climate.
 
Pablo Rodriguez email – pablo.rodriguez@parl.gc.ca

We also suggest that writing to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change is appropriate.

THE HONOURABLE STEVEN GUILBEAULT
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
(No postage required!)
Phone: 613-992-6779

Constituency
Main office – Montréal
800 Boul de Maisonneuve E
Suite 1010
Montréal, Quebec
H2L 4L8
Phone: 514-522-1339

E-mail
You can reach the office of Steven Guilbeault at Steven.Guilbeault@parl.gc.ca