Good afternoon, everyone.
First of all, I would like to thank the chair and the members of the committee for having us here today.
My name is Maxime Lavoie, and I'm the director of operations at Transport F. Gilbert. I've been working in transportation for almost 20 years.
Transport F. Gilbert specializes in the transportation of bulk commodities, a specialized area of transshipment. We also have a number of other areas of expertise, such as snow removal.
I'm here today because global trade is a challenge for the different customers we serve. Most of the challenges are labour‑related, such as the scarcity of the workforce and the difficulty in hiring staff. That's why the transportation sector often has difficulty in keeping up.
In that context, putting in place a transportation system that's a little more dynamic when it comes to rail and marine transportation could help us in the area of global transportation.
I'm here today to present the various challenges we're facing.
Currently, rail transportation infrastructure in regions like ours, in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, is very underdeveloped. We believe that by developing rail and marine transportation systems in regions such as ours, it would be much easier to increase global trade and the supply chain.
I'm available to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.