Bill C-49 (Historical)

Transportation Modernization Act

An Act to amend the Canada Transportation Act and other Acts respecting transportation and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Canada Transportation Act in respect of air transportation and railway transportation.
With respect to air transportation, it amends the Canada Transportation Act to require the Canadian Transportation Agency to make regulations establishing a new air passenger rights regime and to authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations requiring air carriers and other persons providing services in relation to air transportation to report on different aspects of their performance with respect to passenger experience or quality of service. It amends the definition of Canadian in that Act in order to raise the threshold of voting interests in an air carrier that may be owned and controlled by non-Canadians while retaining its Canadian status, while also establishing specific limits related to such interests. It also amends that Act to create a new process for the review and authorization of arrangements involving two or more transportation undertakings providing air services to take into account considerations respecting competition and broader considerations respecting public interest.
With respect to railway transportation, it amends the Act to, among other things,
(a) provide that the Canadian Transportation Agency will offer information and informal dispute resolution services;
(b) expand the Governor in Council’s powers to make regulations requiring major railway companies to provide to the Minister of Transport and the Agency information relating to rates, service and performance;
(c) repeal provisions of the Act dealing with insolvent railway companies in order to allow the laws of general application respecting bankruptcy and insolvency to apply to those companies;
(d) clarify the factors that must be applied in determining whether railway companies are fulfilling their service obligations;
(e) shorten the period within which a level of service complaint is to be adjudicated by the Agency;
(f) enable shippers to obtain terms in their contracts dealing with amounts to be paid in relation to a failure to comply with conditions related to railway companies’ service obligations;
(g) require the Agency to set the interswitching rate annually;
(h) create a new remedy for shippers who have access to the lines of only one railway company at the point of origin or destination of the movement of traffic in circumstances where interswitching is not available;
(i) change the process for the transfer and discontinuance of railway lines to, among other things, require railway companies to make certain information available to the Minister and the public and establish a remedy for non-compliance with the process;
(j) change provisions respecting the maximum revenue entitlement for the movement of Western grain and require certain railway companies to provide to the Minister and the public information respecting the movement of grain; and
(k) change provisions respecting the final offer arbitration process by, among other things, increasing the maximum amount for the summary process to $2 million and by making a decision of an arbitrator applicable for a period requested by the shipper of up to two years.
It amends the CN Commercialization Act to increase the maximum proportion of voting shares of the Canadian National Railway Company that can be held by any one person to 25%.
It amends the Railway Safety Act to prohibit a railway company from operating railway equipment and a local railway company from operating railway equipment on a railway unless the equipment is fitted with the prescribed recording instruments and the company, in the prescribed manner and circumstances, records the prescribed information using those instruments, collects the information that it records and preserves the information that it collects. This enactment also specifies the circumstances in which the prescribed information that is recorded can be used and communicated by companies, the Minister of Transport and railway safety inspectors.
It amends the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act to allow the use or communication of an on-board recording, as defined in subsection 28(1) of that Act, if that use or communication is expressly authorized under the Aeronautics Act, the National Energy Board Act, the Railway Safety Act or the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.
It amends the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Act to authorize the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to enter into agreements for the delivery of screening services on a cost-recovery basis.
It amends the Coasting Trade Act to enable repositioning of empty containers by ships registered in any register. These amendments are conditional on Bill C-30, introduced in the 1st session of the 42nd Parliament and entitled the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, receiving royal assent and sections 91 to 94 of that Act coming into force.
It amends the Canada Marine Act to permit port authorities and their wholly-owned subsidiaries to receive loans and loan guarantees from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. These amendments are conditional on Bill C-44, introduced in the 1st session of the 42nd Parliament and entitled the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1, receiving royal assent.
Finally, it makes related and consequential amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Competition Act, the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Air Canada Public Participation Act, the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 and the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I present, I apologize to the committee members, but I need to put it on the record that every time I am forced to be before a parliamentary committee, I am here under duress. This committee passed a motion that requires me to be here if I want to put forward amendments at this stage. Otherwise, but for the motion of this committee, I would have had rights to put forward these amendments at report stage.

Since report stage happens only once in the chamber, you don't have the conflict that I had just the week before Thanksgiving, when both Bill C-45 and Bill C-49 went to clause-by-clause consideration at the same time, and because of the motions passed in those committees, I had to present amendments at the same time.

I would particularly urge this committee, as the committee on procedure and House affairs, that this is the committee that should have determined whether my rights as an MP needed to be curtailed at report stage. Under the former prime minister, the PMO basically did an end run around PROC to change the way legislation is treated in the House, by passing identical motions committee to committee requiring members of Parliament in parties with fewer than 12 MPs, or independents, to bring their motions to committee with 48 hours' notice. This is to create a fake “opportunity” that denies me my rights at report stage.

That's the context in which I tell you that I am here under duress. I know a lot of you are unfamiliar with this situation, even though the committee passed this motion. You probably thought it was a friendly thing, a nice thing, but it has probably taken years off my life to try to get to every committee at clause-by-clause consideration, instead of having the rights I would otherwise have at report stage. It's particularly offensive to PROC. If you were, for instance, to repeal your own committee motion, I'd find that extremely helpful.

I'll be very brief. I understand that the conflict occurs with the Liberal amendment, which deals with lines 34 to 36 on page 6. So does mine.

PV-2 stands for Parti vert-2, because the clerks of the committees decided not to call my motions “Green Party” because then they would look like government motions, with a “G”. That's why it's Parti vert-2.

Parti vert-2 is in conflict with paragraph (b) of David's amendment. What I am trying to do with my amendment is ensure that it's not precluded that the reporting take place during an election. If you go to the bill, you see that I basically change the language. Where it says, “Subsections (1) to (6) do not apply in respect of a regulated fundraising event”, my amendment, Parti vert-2, would change the words “do not apply” to “continue to apply”, so that the fundraising rules within this legislation would apply during the writ period.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, Humber River—Black Creek, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 15th report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in relation to Bill C-49, an act to amend the Canada Transportation Act and other acts respecting transportation and to make related and consequential amendments to other acts. The committee has studied the bill, and we had great co-operation from all members of the committee from all sides of the House. It was an example of how to deal with legislation in a proper and effective way in the House. We have decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.

Bill C-48--Time Allocation Motion

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my colleague brought up the fact, as I did beforehand, that Bill C-49 passed yesterday through clause-by-clause. It is certainly my hope that Bill C-48 will go through a similar collegial process. There will be that opportunity.

I totally respect the independence of the committee as our government has done from the very beginning, unlike the previous government. I am sure when it does arrive at committee, there will be a similar opportunity to hear witnesses to argue for and against, and eventually go to clause-by-clause. I hope to do all this in a collegial manner.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I sit on the transport committee, and we put through Bill C-49 last night. It was a little unusual that on Monday we were notified the committee would sit from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Be that as it may, the member from Saskatoon and the member for Wellington—Halton Hills stayed, and it was very collegial. In my nine years, I do not recall any bill getting passed in one day through a committee. The members made their points and were very collegial.

However, we see this take place today. If people wonder at home why politics are sometimes toxic, this is a great example. Here is an opportunity for members of Parliament to debate the issue, to let it go to committee, and probably have an opportunity to be collegial with the amendments in clause-by-clause. He has now forced the committee to examine every amendment, and every clause to the very finite end.

Therefore, between the minister and the House leader, could they explain why they would want to sour the positive relationship on the transport committee? For good measure, he should apologize to the chair, because she has done a great job, and now he is putting her in a heck of a situation.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a good reminder.

Back in 2015 we definitely heard a lot of voices from Canadians who very strongly supported the concept of a permanent moratorium on west coast tanker traffic. That is, of course, the substance of this bill.

We feel that there is going to be a reasonable amount of time for members of the opposition to express themselves on this bill. The bill is going to go to committee. It will come back for report stage and third reading. There will be other opportunities for both parties to express themselves on whether they agree with it or not.

As well, there is the very important work that goes on in committee. May I say, on a very positive note, that yesterday there was great co-operation among all the parties in doing the clause by clause on another important transport bill, Bill C-49.

[Michelle Travis]

I would say that the Emerson report makes some good suggestions in terms of dealing with airport improvement fees. I think there are some limitations in terms of how far it goes. It did not get into the local decision-making issue. The other issue that's popped up with municipalities is taxation and how the tax that airport authorities have to pay the cities is determined, because really, airport authorities have a lot of power to determine that.

In terms of the Emerson report, what's interesting is having a process to contest the airport improvement fees through the Canadian Transportation Agency. I think the challenge there is that they're pretty short-staffed, as we're finding out just from following Bill C-49.

There's a question there about airport passengers having complaints and those running through the agency, and whether they are staffed and they can actually follow through with any sorts of complaints around airport fees. Whereas I think it's $20 here, I think in Calgary it may be closer to $30 for every time you depart. That's a high fee. There should be an opportunity for the community members who assess those fees to raise objections.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Since it has been a little bit of time since we first talked about it, I'd like to reiterate some of the reasons we brought this forward. A number of our witnesses told us many things about regulated interswitching. They believe that it has worked well as a pro-competitive remedy because rail carriers have been prepared to compete for traffic using it and because the applicable rates are known to all prospective participants at the time when they are negotiating potential routes, rates, and other conditions.

They have also noted that the long-haul interswitching remedy in Bill C-49 is far less user friendly. They made many points, but there are two that I would highlight at the end of this conversation. First, on a more fundamental level, LHI is very similar in concept and overall structure to the competitive line rate remedy that has been in the legislation since 1988. That remedy has been inoperative since the early 1990s because CN and CP have effectively declined to compete for traffic using the CLR. That was the conclusion reached in the statutory review of the National Transportation Act in 1993, which was almost 25 years ago.

Second, when speaking with regard to the four western provinces, the witness group stated that for most shippers in western Canada, the nearest interchange with a second carrier was an interchange between CN and CP, and they provided a map to us when they made their testimony. They stated that, like CLR, whether LHI provides competitive alternatives to any shipper will depend largely on whether CN and CP are prepared to compete with each other using this remedy. Unless they are, LHI will remain a concept on paper that has little or no practical application.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

In keeping with our co-operative spirit and seeing that we ultimately do want to increase transparency and Bill C-49 increases the amount of data that needs to be submitted and calculated, I'd like to withdraw my motion.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Chair, this is a recommendation that came to our committee through Mr. Tougas. Quite simply, the rationale would be because C-49 is not oriented toward fulsome disclosure, not to customers, not to the agency, and not to the minister, the proposal is a simpler revision to the performance data provisions of C-49.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Amendment NDP-12 proposes that Bill C-49, in clause 69, be amended by replacing lines 1 to 6 on page 49 with the following:

(3) The costs incurred for the delivery of screening by the Authority under the terms of an agreement entered into under subsection (1) shall be borne by the Authority and may not be recovered from the other party to the agreement.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

No. It's from an independent member, and it's moved automatically here.

The motion is to amend Bill C-49 in clause 61 by adding after line 20 on page 42 the following:

(4) The information that a company records, collects or preserves under subsection (1) shall not be destroyed if it is used, or can reasonably be expected to be used, for any purpose authorized under this Act.

Is there any discussion on that amendment?

(Amendment negatived)

(Clause 61 agreed to)

(On clause 62)

We have amendment NDP-9.

Monsieur Aubin.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Chair, I want to thank the clerk for bringing up the letter that we received from the Privacy Commissioner on September 12. I think that could have been the last day of our committee meetings on Bill C-49. I think it's really important to mention that the Privacy Commissioner noted...and I'll only pick out a couple of statements out of this letter:

However, we find the provision allowing rail companies to have access to these data for proactive safety spot checks is less clearly defined.

I think they're identifying a lack in the bill. Then he is also saying that:

In our view, allowing rail companies to have broad access to audio and video data for non-investigatory purposes has a greater impact on privacy, and could open the door to potential misuse of the data or function creep.

I think we have to be aware that we have the Privacy Commissioner weighing in on this piece of legislation and pointing out to us where there may be a need for more clarity. I guess our committee has to decide whether or not we're fine to leave that clarity up to what may be put in the regulations. What is the result of this? What will happen if we've received this letter from the Privacy Commissioner in regard to a proposed bill and we do not take those concerns...?

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I found Mr. Hardie's presentation particularly eloquent. He spoke about an environment of trust, and that's precisely what is lacking.

All the situations in which voice and video recorders cannot be used are being listed, but we are told that we are going to define them later in the regulations in order to specify them. We are against that. In any case, we aren't necessarily working on safety. If we really wanted to work on safety, it would have been good for Bill C-49 to propose measures against train operator fatigue. We had to face the same problem in aviation safety.

In our view, voice and video recorders are tools that allow the TSB to measure, after the fact, that is, after the accident, unfortunately, what was lacking or not. If we really want to talk about safety, we must review all the measures that affect events before an accident happens. Voice and video recorders do nothing to prevent accidents

Personally, I wouldn't want a voice and video camera installed in my office to monitor my daily work. I guess the Prime Minister and Mr. Hardie wouldn't like that either. Yet that is what we are offering to train drivers. We tell them that whenever they enter their office, meaning their locomotive, their actions will be recorded on a voice and video tape.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

In the next few minutes, you will see a number of amendments proposed by the New Democratic Party. They are all similar, because the discourse must be consistent.

In all the presentations, we were told that tapes of these voice and video recorders would not be used in any particular situation. The only thing on which all witnesses agreed was that these recordings should only be used by members of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, or TSB. The bill should not contain any clauses that give the railways the power to do anything else because of criteria that are not quite clear. That's what we are trying to correct or eliminate.

Amendment NDP-8 proposes that Bill C-49, in clause 61, be amended by replacing lines 13 to 16 on page 42 with the following:

(2) No company referred to in subsection (1) shall use the information that it records, collects or preserves under that subsection. Instead of explaining how the company should not do it in unfortunate situations, let's say from the start that it cannot do it.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Okay, I move that Bill C-49 be amended by adding after line 23 on page 41 the following new clause:

59.1(1) The Minister shall, no later than three years after the first day on which sections 2 to 59 of this Act are all in force, carry out a comprehensive review of the operation of this act in relation to the Canada Transportation Act, and any other Act of Parliament for which the Minister is responsible that pertains to the economic regulation of a mode of transportation or to transportation activities under the legislative authority of Parliament.