Evidence of meeting #5 for Bill C-39 in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was transportation.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Tim Louis Liberal Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I will direct my questions to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
Mr. Xotta, I had the opportunity to meet with you at the port authority last year, and one of the things we discussed was that ports need to expand, but infrastructure connecting the ports to the rest of the country can involve challenges and extend well beyond a port's mandate. Things get more complicated when they involve other jurisdictions, waterways, rail connections and multiple federal regulators.
Can you give the committee a concrete example of the type of approval that, when we worked together and empowered the appropriate local federal authority, shortened the process without lowering standards?
October 27th, 2026 / 12:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
Certainly, it's always our intention to move forward in meeting all standards with respect to projects. We have the greatest success in delivering projects on federal lands and waters that we have direct influence over and on which we can work with our federal colleagues to make sure they are permitted in a time frame. Strictly speaking, some of the supporting infrastructure that is necessary to meet our trade objectives is, of course, outside of the port's jurisdiction, in municipalities.
We have had the greatest success where municipalities have been interested in and capable of delivering, in partnership with Canada and the port authority, the infrastructure that will enhance road or rail capabilities. Where we struggle is where we don't have that partnership.
We have examples of where we've moved forward. We have the Holdom overpass, a $250-million piece of infrastructure that's enabling trade for potash, coal and grain to Vancouver's north shore. The municipality gets a tremendous benefit out of that.
If we have a municipality that is not interested, that's going to stand in the way of Canada meeting its objectives, and that's what we need to address.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thank you very much.
I appreciate all of our witnesses for taking the time to be here and sharing their insights on this important piece of legislation.
Thank you to all of my colleagues around the table. We'll see you at the next meeting.
The meeting is adjourned.