Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Minister, and members of the department.
Those of us from the official opposition find ourselves in a really felicitous situation, because we see before ourselves a bill that we presented 24 months ago, although it seems like only yesterday. I guess we were kind of hoping for a different type of legislation from a different government. But we want to compliment you on seeing the wisdom of some of the legislation that the Liberal government presented some 24 months ago. You probably think that's partisan of me but it isn't; it's just a little bit of a preamble.
When the predecessor to Bill C-8 came before the House last spring, we didn't really have much of an opportunity to debate it because it came very close to the end of the session. So you'll forgive me if I put some of the questions into a particular context.
I don't mean to chew up the time, but from our perspective Bill C-8 should focus—and our questions will focus—on the maintenance and growth of transportation infrastructure to help a very valuable sector and component of the Canadian domestic product, but also communities throughout Canada. So our interest in Bill C-8 will be determined in part by the extent to which all of the amendments nurture that growth or maintain the level of infrastructure required to allow our producers to be competitive as they are being more productive.
Secondly, we want to make sure there is protection of the interests of not just the shippers but the producers as well. As I said, we didn't have an opportunity to debate this at any great length in the House, and we probably won't be able to do that except here in committee, but that too is a concern.
The third major issue is competitiveness, and I'm not sure if what's in the bill is going to ensure that competitiveness. Minister, you alluded to the fact that you want to guarantee that the railway companies will be able to continue to offer a good quality of service, and encourage investment at any rate. I'm looking forward to seeing how the bill will do that. We'll probably get to do it in committee.
But there are two other issues, and I ask for your comments. One is on the way the bill is going to work out. On the question of service, you said you were going to initiate a review within 30 days of the passage of the legislation. I'd like to understand why you wouldn't do that right now.
Secondly, there's a clause that says shippers will no longer need to prove financial damage. I understand the reason why you wanted to put that in. I think you said you wanted to shift the balance back to the shippers. We want to make sure there isn't any frivolity in any of the issues, so I'd like you to address that.
Finally, the big concern for a lot of the smaller producers is the shutdown of lines. I was encouraged by one of your amendments that said you have to go through a process. Then I immediately took away my enthusiasm when it said that in the event that they go through the process and decide to shut the lines down anyway, you will make sure they return a fine to the local municipalities. That's great, but they will still be without service. That goes back to what I said earlier—that we want to make sure we maintain infrastructure, if not grow it.
I've gone on a little bit because we didn't have a chance to debate this at great length in the spring, but I'd like to have some of your comments in response to those concerns.