Evidence of meeting #30 for Public Safety and National Security in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbsa.
A video is available from Parliament.
General Director, Société du Port de Valleyfield
That was the pace when these activities were being carried out in Valleyfield.
Containers were unloaded and set down on the ground. The Lacolle crew would clear about 40 containers. Yes, it took about eight hours with two customs officers. The portal would move around the containers, they would clear the containers, and then we would have the go-ahead to release the cargo.
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC
Okay.
Ms. Viau, you're telling me that since you lost that licence, and therefore the agency's service, container cargo ships have been diverted.
Could you give us some tangible examples so committee members can clearly understand what losing this service means for our region?
Can you give us some examples of container ships that had to be rerouted?
General Director, Société du Port de Valleyfield
I can give you examples of cargoes that have been lost, but I can also give you examples of cargoes that have to stop elsewhere because we don't have that licence. I can talk about the new bridge being built in Île‑aux‑Tourtes.
The beams for the bridge come from Spain through the Port of Valleyfield. When the first ship arrived, there were two containers of the hardware, parts and specialized components to assemble the beams that, unfortunately, had to be unloaded in Montreal, before the ship could continue its route to Valleyfield.
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC
Ms. Viau, in this case, we're talking about beams intended for a very important bridge that connects Montreal Island to Montérégie. We're talking about two containers of beam-related hardware. For the customer, that means two stops and additional costs.
Did you make a special request to the agency to get the service and be more efficient?
General Director, Société du Port de Valleyfield
Yes, we did, and we were denied.
On another occasion last year, an international ship was returning from the Arctic with 20 containers. We applied to be able to clear containers at Valleyfield, but our request was denied. The ship had to stop in Montreal, wait for a dock to become available, dock, unload the 20 containers and have them cleared in Montreal. The containers then had to be loaded back on the ship and transported to Valleyfield to be unloaded a second time.
The Port of Montreal is sometimes congested, and a mandatory stop was added there, when everything could have been done in Valleyfield.
We want to position Canada in international Arctic projects. The Société du Port de Valleyfield also has expertise when it comes to the Arctic. We can ship containers, but we can't receive them in Valleyfield.
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC
What would you like to ask the government team, which will then pass your requests on to the Department of Public Safety and the Canada Border Services Agency?
General Director, Société du Port de Valleyfield
We're asking for the service to be offered once again in Valleyfield. We're asking the agency to review its model and approach so it's more agile, more flexible and allows for innovative proposals.
We'd like a neutral party to conduct a study so we can really understand the requirements for receiving containers in Valleyfield and the needs in terms of implementation, infrastructure and equipment. Above all, we want these requirements to be adapted to the volume and needs of the ports.
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC
Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC
I'll use those 15 seconds to thank the witnesses for being so clear. I think it's clear when it comes to the Port of Valleyfield and other ports in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jean-Yves Duclos
Thank you very much for that discussion, Mrs. DeBellefeuille.
Mr. Caputo, you have the floor for five minutes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Jean-Yves Duclos
Thank you, MP Caputo.
MP Gill, you have the floor for five minutes, please.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you very much for your time here today. It shows the passion that you have brought to the table. It's encouraging that we will hopefully, collectively working together, move forward and make sure that these studies we are trying to implement are successful here.
We see that North America's supply chains are under pressure from rising trade volumes, security requirements and evolving international rules. Ports are a key part of Canada's trade infrastructure, yet they continue to face persistent challenges.
Mr. Hamilton, in your assessment, what are the main structural barriers preventing an efficient flow of goods through our ports, and what steps should be taken to address these challenges from your perspective?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
That's a broad-reaching question.
I certainly believe that one of the key elements.... As I mentioned earlier, Transport Canada and Global Affairs Canada have identified that if we want to pursue our global agenda to diversify our trade partners, we actually have to build the capacity at the ports. We also need to improve our productivity. Our ports today are not the most productive in the world. Through the utilization of information and AI, we can create better models to improve productivity and make sure we've made the right infrastructure investments.
The legislative environment is specifically unique to the Great Lakes ports in trying to develop more container traffic flowing through and take advantage of that capacity. It means a more friendly and forward-looking environment, which is to say that CBSA plays a critical role in increasing that capacity by fundamentally taking advantage of the available capacity today.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
I definitely agree with you, Mr. Hamilton.
When you're talking about these delays that are happening, can you expand on the extent to which delays are being driven by container inspections, outdated processing systems or the physical infrastructure that constrains the port?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
The infrastructure side of it quite simply means that we just don't have the capacity when there are peaks in demand. We saw that when we came out of COVID. We just didn't have the capacity to actually deal with the sheer demand that existed.
I think the other issue that we very much want to ensure is that, from a labour perspective.... At times it has affected our brand globally. We need to make sure that we have customers globally who can look at Canada and say, “Yes, I can rely on them to move my goods through these facilities. I don't have to worry about strikes or some form of disruption.” We saw that with both the rail and some of the port activities in the last few years.
I think in some ways there are probably a number of different tools available to you as parliamentarians, but certainly we view port operations as essential services.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
I would like to get into which stage of the container clearance process, such as pre-arrival screening, unloading inspection or inland transportation, is the most significant bottleneck or challenge occurring within the system.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
Mr. Gill, I wish I could answer that question, but of course we're not allowed to move containers through our ports. In our world, the biggest obstacle is the fact that we do not have the actual licences to move containers through our facilities.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
That's the biggest disadvantage for your port.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
That's right.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
Are there any other inconsistencies that you are aware of related to how rules are applied, just like we're talking right now about how certain things are allowed at other ports but they're different from the ports that you manage?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
I'm probably not the right authority to talk about those other facilities.
Conservative
Sukhman Gill Conservative Abbotsford—South Langley, BC
Okay.
For my last question, I want to go back a little bit to 2023, when Parliament recommended improved data sharing between ports and supply chain stakeholders. Government indicated that it supported this recommendation. I want to understand if any concrete progress has been made to improve this data sharing, from your perspective.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority
From my perspective, it has not been significant. I think we house a lot more data as a country than we're putting out there for industry to take advantage of, develop creative solutions, create more productive supply chains and develop new products. I think there's still a challenge sometimes with collection, but it's also about how we distribute and how we create a more transparent environment to share data.
