Transport Committee on Nov. 28th, 2006

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I just want to go to Mr. Fast's point.

Here is the memo received from Mr. D'Amore to all members of the committee and analysts. It's the brief prepared by the Competition Bureau of Canada with regard to Bill C-11, dated November 6, 2006. It was sent to the chair, in fact. There are three aspects of the bill that are focused on. I assume every member has seen this and read it. There are some very serious concerns put forward by the Competition Bureau.

I don't want to read the brief, Mr. Chair. I assume everyone has seen this.

[Helena Borges]

We haven't, no.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I just want to confirm a couple of things. First of all, I mentioned that the powers already exist for air transportation modes, but this would actually expand it to all modes of transportation in Canada. Quite frankly, this is identical language to what the Liberals proposed in Bill C-44.

The other issue is that there are two perspectives in relation to these transactions. First, the Competition Bureau looks at the issue of competition in the marketplace, whereas the Minister of Transportation looks at the public interest good.

Mr. McGuinty, in relation to your other point about transparency and accountability--and I don't believe this has been said so far--we on the government side would be open to a compromise on having the minister make public the guidelines on information regarding the public interest. However, as Mr. Scott could probably attest as a former minister, a minister does need some amount of discretion in relation to the criteria and the decision itself, but certainly making public those criteria and the decision itself would alleviate the concerns Mr. McGuinty has put forward.

Does that answer your question, Mr. McGuinty?

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

That's only partly my concern. I'm more concerned about the fact that these are the Competition Bureau's concerns.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I haven't seen the memo yet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I realize that some people have it, but I think we should make a copy and recirculate it, because obviously the department people have never received this. I remember receiving a copy of the cover letter, but I can't say I remember receiving the document.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

It was sent by Sheridan Scott, the Commissioner of Competition, on November 2, 2006.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

I have a copy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Maybe we could get a copy, Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mine is badly marked up, so maybe you can get a clean copy from someone else.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Monsieur Laframboise, is yours a clean copy?

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

The thing is, I only kept the French copy.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

That's alright.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Go ahead then, and we'll try to track down a copy. I think it's a little unfair that not all our committee members have a copy, and that the transport people--

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I completely agree, Mr. Chair. I assumed everyone had read it.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Was this submitted by the clerk?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

The cover letter was, but I don't remember receiving the document itself.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

We received it as an attachment to an e-mail from the clerk.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mark has gone out to try to track down a copy.

Mr. Laframboise, do you have a comment? Do we want to move to the rest of the clauses and come back when we have the information? Is that reasonable? Can we move on to the next clause until we get this information provided to everybody?

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

(Clause 13 allowed to stand)

(On clause 14)

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

On page 15 in your handout, the amendment being proposed is NDP-9.

Mr. Julian.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

I don't think we need to spend a lot of time on this. It's a simple clarification around clause 14, changing the current wording from “municipality” to “municipal government”, and ensuring that when we're talking about air service, if levels of government declare an emergency and request it, the air service will be provided. So it's a simple clarification of language.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Are there any comments?

Mr. Jean.