Transport Committee on April 28th, 2009

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

Excellent.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

It is not just in Quebec, but also in Ontario and British Columbia. Everywhere.

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

If I still have time, my next question has to do with safety and security, which you mentioned earlier. You know that airlines are rumoured to be putting pressure on your department to change the ratio of flight attendants to passengers in aircraft carrying 50 passengers or more. You also know that we have already studied that issue in committee. It is not the first time that we have talked about it, but the third. Our party's position is still the same: for safety reasons, the ratio of flight attendants to passengers should not be changed.

Do you intend to revisit that law or not?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I have not decided to change it. I cannot say whether that will change in the future, but that issue is not on my plate right now. I have many more important priorities. If that changes, you will....

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

No, that is okay. We are fine with that. As I was saying earlier, Minister, there is the important issue of VIA Rail. In your answer, you said that you were waiting for the results of the VIA Rail study that Quebec and Ontario are conducting and that you are paying for. You said that you had read about what the Obama administration wants to do. Do you not want to contact them to see what they are planning and to work with them directly? Would you not prefer to speak with them, rather than wait?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

In my answer to a previous question, I said that the Obama administration had made speeches and put forward ideas on high-speed rail. There are no specific proposals. I have already met with my counterpart in Washington regarding a number of infrastructure projects. We agreed that we were ready to work together. In my view, it is critical that we complete our study with Quebec and Ontario. We have already formed a partnership. We cannot lose sight of that work. I am absolutely certain that our neighbours had to do the same research on their side of the border, but we have established a good relationship. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, a former member of Congress, is a Republican.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

Ms. Brown.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank both of you for being here today. As you know, this is National Rail Safety Week, so my question eventually will be for the Minister of State for Transport. I've had the opportunity this week to have some meetings with representatives of our railways, and quite frankly, I don't think I had been aware quite how comprehensive the cobweb of rail system is in Canada.

Being a GTA member of Parliament, I have the advantage of being able to use our railway system regularly in my transport back and forth between here and Toronto and consider myself very fortunate to have that opportunity. It is a wonderful service we have.

I'm very pleased with the investment that is being made in the rehabilitation of the Go Transit bridge at the south end of Aurora. I live in a community that is dependent on service to Toronto, and Go Transit provides the service between Newmarket and Union Station for my constituents. So the rehabilitation of that bridge is going to really improve the ability of Go Transit to provide service to my constituency and, really, to the constituencies of all of York region. I've also had the opportunity to speak with our regional chair, Bill Fish, who is very pleased with that investment in particular and with other investments in transportation that are coming into York region.

I wonder, though, if you could speak specifically to other investments that are being made—and this is to our Minister of State—to improve safety on our railways. So like this rehabilitation that is going into the Go Transit bridge, there must be other projects that are going on across Canada to improve rail safety, and I wonder if you could speak to that for us.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Sure. I would agree with you that the amount of money in infrastructure on the VIA side of our railway system is very significant, and that will enhance not only service, but certainly new railway lines being put in place, new locomotives, and more efficient operation. Actually, I think the goal is to close the time between Montreal and Toronto by a half hour.

But your question is more on the safety side, where we are doing something very significant. On the safety, $72 million was put into this action plan budget to deal with the safety of our rail system and make sure we have a five-year plan, regulations oversight, and enforcement to make sure those cars, the freight, and the people who are being transported across this country are very safe. Some of this money is going to be for grade-crossing improvements as well as the regulatory oversight. This is significant. We'll be laying out the plan this government has over this next year. We'll be aggressively pursuing this and making sure we put those dollars to very good use and we can be assured we have safety as we travel on the rail, either by passenger or by freight.

One of the reasons I have a personal interest in this is what has happened in Wabamun, in my area. Wabamun Lake was polluted. It wasn't passenger, but it was freight, and it certainly caused a tremendous amount of disruption. It's an issue I think all Canadians are very concerned about. Environmental concerns are there, and we need to do whatever we can to make sure these kinds of incidents don't repeat themselves.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'd like to ask a second question, if I may, for the Minister of State. Last year there was a program introduced in July specifically for our veterans. Many of the veterans in my area were able to take advantage of that program, and I wonder if you could talk about how that program is being extended again this year, how we made the decision to do that, and how many people have taken advantage of it. I don't know if I even have those numbers, but I'd be pleased to hear about that program that's in place for our railway system.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Last year was the first time the program was initiated, and its success was really quite striking. It was only for the month of July, and allowed our veterans and active Canadian service people to ride on the rail free of charge. I believe they could bring up to three other family members at a 50% rate.

Sixty thousand of our Canadian Forces people accessed this service. I've been around the country talking to some of these servicemen, and they are thrilled by the opportunity to see this country in July--it's a great time to travel. This is an extraordinary thing that VIA Rail has offered, and they are repeating it this year.

We're also extending it to Marine Atlantic, which will allow free access for servicemen's vehicles carrying up to five family members each. This will not only contribute to the families, but will allow them to travel across to Newfoundland and back to Sydney. This is extraordinary, because it applies not only for July, but from May 1 to October 31. So this is a phenomenal opportunity for our veterans and our Canadian Forces individuals to see Newfoundland and enhance tourism. It's just one of the tangible ways that we as Canadians can say thank you very much for the great work our men and women do.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the ministers for coming to this meeting. I'm going to be short and quick with questions here.

If the federal government had included a stimulus plan in its November economic statement, wouldn't more projects be under way by now?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Certainly the long history in Canada among successive governments is that we give a fall financial update, but the new expenditures normally follow in the budget. I think we're going to be much further ahead with infrastructure because we brought in a budget early in January. Frankly, we also did a significant amount of work to speed up the existing infrastructure programs far before the beginning of the fiscal year.

One thing I'll promise you is that with these new infrastructure programs the rubber is hitting the road and will hit the road quicker and faster--by a factor of at least ten--than any other infrastructure program in the history of this country in the modern era. We're not going to take two or three years to sign contribution agreements. We're not going to waste a lot of time. It won't be immediate or instantaneous, but it will be ten times quicker than any government in the modern era, from the moment it's announced until the moment we see action on a case-by-case basis. I'm pleased with that. It's not perfect, but it will be ten times better than anything ever done in the history of this country.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

You say it will be ten times faster. Can you tell me how many projects under this new funding have started so far?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

In the province of British Columbia we announced more than a quarter of a billion dollars worth of projects where the green light is happening. Whether it's Highway 4 west of Port Alberni, Highway 97 from Cody Road to Australian, the Surrey-Bridgeview sewer system, engineering consultants, architects, or contractors, there's a lot of action, and as every day goes by there'll be more action.

I want my officials, my office, and my department to have all hands on deck to identify with provinces and municipalities, give the green light to federal projects, and push through the paperwork so the provinces and municipalities that hold the shovels in about 95% of cases can do their work.

I am not going to take officials off the job to have a tote board. We respect the fact that Parliament asked for an update in June, and they'll get one. The Government of Canada must maintain the confidence of the House of Commons every single day in order to do that, and thus far we've been doing that for more than three years.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Minister, you mentioned British Columbia. I would like to provide you with a quote from your predecessor last year in regard to P3s, public-private partnership projects.

Just this year, as you know, I'm sure the P3 funding for the Port Mann bridge in British Columbia has collapsed. Here is Minister Cannon's quote:

...we are seeking public funds, of course, but we're also seeking a mechanism through which we can leverage private funds to be able to complete it. We have examples. I've noted in my comments the Confederation Bridge, for instance, 30% of which is owned by a pension fund in this country. It is a private initiative whereby there is a leveraging of funds to be able to help and support and sustain new infrastructure in the country. Philosophically speaking, that is the direction and the intent that this government wants to take. We believe that's the right course of action.

Given what we have seen happen with the economy over the last year and what we saw with the Port Mann bridge, in particular, I wondered if you could comment in regard to whether your government still sees this as a viable course of action.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I can tell you I certainly don't have any problem with private sector and alternate financing for infrastructure projects.

You brought up a specific infrastructure project in the province of British Columbia. I visited and saw the construction on that project not a few weeks ago, and I can guarantee you that if you were to phone the Premier of British Columbia or the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure of the Province of British Columbia, he'll say that we have moved mountains in responding to this economic action plan. They have never seen the federal government move so quickly on infrastructure. And they are not just happy; if you were to ask the Province of British Columbia, they would tell you, I say to you my friend, that they're very, very pleased with this, and that's a Liberal government--

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I don't have to ask anyone. I can see the example of this P3. It's clear that the public-private partnership funding has collapsed in British Columbia. I also talked to the municipalities when I was travelling through your Prime Minister's home province. I can tell you that we talked about the Building Canada fund, specifically those at the municipal level that will possibly benefit from this money.

It is not working because they told me that the fund, as it stands, rewards bad behaviour. If you are a municipality that did the right thing over the years by investing in good sewer systems, good drainage systems, and good roads, and now you want to build, effectively, a good infrastructure so you can then attract the residential developers--swimming pools, for instance--you are locked out.

Can you tell me what the solution is so that those municipalities have access to this Building Canada fund?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I can tell you where we're at in Alberta on infrastructure. There are some phenomenal things actually happening.

You asked--

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Specifically to this Building Canada fund, how is it that you have locked out those communities that have planned in the past with good planning? Now they're looking for money for their recreation facilities and they're locked out.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Let me tell you exactly what has happened. Since the last time I was at this committee--and we're just talking about the Building Canada portion, not the stimulus portion and not the PT base portion--we're talking about $200 million of announcements.

Actually, of these ones that have been announced, I can just go through a list, if you like. There's $40 million to a science centre in Calgary; there's $9 million to a heritage park. By the way, on this one--

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Newton—North Delta, BC]

Mr. Chairman, the minister is not answering the question I asked.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

On the science centre, the contribution is done. The science centre is actually in construction. On the $100-million ring road around Edmonton that we actually announced in March, the shovels were in the ground on April 1. It gives you an idea of how it is working.

That's what your question was, on the Building Canada fund. Is it being effective? Are we creating jobs? Are we getting shovels in the ground? I can tell you we are.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean.