Thank you for your question, Mr. Jean.
I alluded at the very beginning of my presentation to the consultations that have been taking place. They go back to 2000-01. Shortly after I took office, I was made aware of the issues the shippers were facing, the complaints they were lodging. I met with the railway industry, and quite clearly action was required.
I have not heard of one shipper who is opposed to this piece of legislation. I think that all parliamentarians around the table have been made aware of those representations. We, as parliamentarians and lawmakers, have the obligation to correct a situation when we see that the situation, for multiple reasons, is not working.
We strongly believe that Canada needs to be competitive. We have to be able to get our products to their destination as soon as possible, as efficiently as possible. As a government, we have put forward a series of measures, whether it be the Atlantic Accord, whether it be the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway, the Asia Pacific Gateway, ways to seamlessly integrate our transportation network to assure our producers that our products are there. There are the port mergers in B.C., working with the authorities in Prince Rupert to make sure we can get our products to market as fast as possible. I think this government is dedicated to that principle. We've quite clearly indicated it in Advantage Canada, which the Minister of Finance has alluded to on numerous occasions. We're building our infrastructure. We're talking about short-line rail, and we want to be able to make sure that as a government, through the Building Canada Fund, we put the amounts of money that are required to make sure the infrastructure is there, and capable and efficient, to be able to undertake all these important tasks.
So, yes, to respond to your question, I haven't heard any shipper complain. They all want to be able to get their products to their final destination as efficiently as possible. I think that as parliamentarians we are committed to doing that, and hopefully this piece of legislation will see swift passage.