Evidence of meeting #11 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was authority.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director, Community Airport Impact Review
Last year the Toronto Port Authority annual report—
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Freeman, this isn't a debate. I'm providing you the information I have. I would be happy to table my notes.
I was also wondering if you had an opportunity to look at the policy initiatives under land management flexibility that the Conservative government has proposed for this legislation. Have you had an opportunity to look at that?
So you have indeed read that under the policy change it's to, and I quote, “enable the CPAs”—the Canada port authorities—“to lease or license such land, on a temporary basis, provided that the following criteria are met”. And the second criterion is that “each individual use is compatible with the land use plan of the port and has taken into account the land use plan of any adjacent local government”.
Then it goes on to state that CPAs, Canadian port authorities, are required to develop a land use plan for properties under the management of the CPA. I quote again: “land use plans must account for the relevant social, economic and environmental matters and zoning bylaws that apply to neighbouring lands”.
Have you read those?
February 5th, 2008 / 11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
So you understand that's good news as far as Toronto goes, and with the council, as far as what the resolutions are.
As an Individual
I'll leave it to a lawyer to explain what the word “account” means.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I understand what it is. I'm a lawyer as well, so I do understand.
As an Individual
But the reality is that in my ward, as we seek to build a sidewalk next to a public school and to render an intersection safe for school children, the port authority has taken us to court and is suing us for acting in bad faith, saying that their needs on the street trump the local needs of children.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
But, Mr. Vaughan, it's all the more reason for you here today, and the other witnesses, to push forward this legislation as quickly as possible so that this policy is then in place.
As an Individual
If I may, what you're reading is something that tries to accommodate a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada between the Vancouver Port Authority and the City of Vancouver. We've noticed this pattern across the country: the port authorities are in conflict with local communities.
The City of Vancouver and community groups ended up having to go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to try to wrest some degree of land use control away from the port authority, which insisted it had the sole and exclusive right to do it. That had to change, and has to change, across Canada.
As an Individual
Our problem is that the port authorities, in the way their governance is set up, are focused so exclusively on the federal government's interests—which in Toronto don't exist, because it's local interests only that are being served by our port—they forget the rest of the community's interests.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I'm sorry, Mr. Iler, but I do have more questions. I would say, from that initiative, you should encourage this bill to be passed as quickly as possible.
My final question, actually, is about your mention of Toronto or the council wanting to see five board members appointed from Toronto. Let's be fair, though. If they are appointed to the board, they have a fiduciary duty to take into account what's best for the Toronto Port Authority. So they're bound to do what's ultimately best for the Toronto Port Authority. So I don't understand how it would benefit Toronto if your theme is to change it completely.
As an Individual
Unlike the federal government, we have very strict rules for the appointment of lobbyists to agencies, boards, or jurisdictions. One of the things we wouldn't do is to appoint spokespeople for industry, who have nothing to do with the port, to the port authority. We'd seek to appoint people to the port authority who actually had something to do with running a port. Further to that, we'd make sure the work of the port authority was focused on the port.
Conservative
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Now I've seen everything here. If there weren't a trade-off going on, now I've seen it. That's unbelievable. No shame, no shame whatsoever.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Mr. Masse, please.
I have three minutes left and have Mr. Zed on my sheet. If he prefers to cede his time, it is up to him.
Liberal
Paul Zed Liberal Saint John, NB
But if I'm the next speaker, I'll speak quickly and share my time with Mr. Volpe.
I'm from a port community called Saint John, New Brunswick. We had the opportunity recently, as the critics for communities, cities, and infrastructure, to travel the country and meet with your mayor and several councillors in the city of Toronto, as well as Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg. And I have never heard a city councillor come to a committee and say they don't want participation, partnership, and strategic relationships with the national government. So I have to tell you, Councillor Vaughan, this is a first.
My concern is that I well remember the City of Toronto coming to Ottawa to talk about the ecology, lands, economy, and community of Toronto, and about harbour and port development. We think of the word “port” as you have historically described it, as the commodore here has referenced, as a place where you're going to sail, but a port has become a gateway.
When I meet the mayor of Toronto and he tells me that your community is a gateway for all of Canada, as is Fort McMurray and Vancouver or Saint John, and he translates his website into 94 languages, it sounds like a port to me.
Now, I accept that there are community issues you have concerns about, but frankly, without being disrespectful, I think you're barking up the wrong tree today as individuals. We're reviewing the Marine Act. If you have some local governance issues, it's clear to me—from a quick search I've done—that the last time we heard from Mr. Freeman, Mr. Vaughan, and Mr. Iler was when you were all apologizing on the front page of the National Post and on the CBC—