Evidence of meeting #19 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
We did a good amount of public transit with the infrastructure stimulus fund, the $4 billion fund. It was by no means a good fund to support large-scale capital—
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
There was lots of it, more than $2 billion. We'll get you the specific breakdown, if you like. The Building Canada fund is a natural one for large projects.
For example, in the city of Toronto, some $600-odd million went to the Sheppard...the Spadina subway extension. Part of it was from CSIF, the previous government's program; there were a lot of unallocated funds there. Part of it was Building Canada. We put in $333 million for the LRT in Scarborough, and we're putting in some—
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Toronto didn't make an application under the Building Canada fund for streetcars. I'll say that when it came to Toronto, we took their priorities.
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
No, it wasn't; it was Spadina. That was their number one priority. The number two priority was Scarborough LRT. The number three priority was Union Station.
We completely adopted the Metrolinx priorities. But every time we make an announcement, all of a sudden a new priority says, you're not funding our priority. Well....
9:05 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Well, partially that's because there is such a huge list. The Urban Transportation Task Force report said it provided a blueprint for federal, provincial, and municipal governments to work together. Are you planning to act on any of those recommendations?
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
We're not planning to act; I think we are acting. I look around this room and I see a lot of pictures of politicians. If you were to have pictures of politicians who have supported public transit on a year-to-year basis in the city of Toronto, at the federal level the person who has funded the most would be Stephen Harper.
I think we've done a lot for public transit in Toronto—plus a tax credit for riders.
9:05 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Can I just ask one last question? I'm coming back to aviation safety.
The Transportation Safety Board issued a watch list in March of this year, and there were a large number of safety issues on it. It's causing concern, because in 2006 there was a report that said a lot of the problems hadn't been followed up on; there's no sign-off, etc. I think your deputy minister's nodding her head. So what is the plan to ensure that all the problems in the watch list are followed up on? Are you putting in any of the funding so that you have better or more staff to do this kind of follow-up? Is staffing inspectors one of the key problems or is it really oversight? Is it the board or is it the Canadian Business Aviation Association?
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
The TSB came forward with the watch list, which we welcomed. One of the concerns that I've had—and I can ask my deputy to expand on this, and I think your party has certainly spoken up loudly on this—is with the Business Aviation Association basically being the regulator of themselves and a lobby group at the same time.
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
I agree, and we're taking that back into the department, so there will be public inspectors doing the work.
9:05 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Transport
As the minister said, the Canadian Business Aviation Association will no longer be regulating the business airplanes. That responsibility has been moved into the department, and we will be in full implementation within the year.
Regarding inspector vacancies, we have 98 vacancies right now. Sixty inspectors are being hired, and we hope to finish all of our staffing by the end of this year.
Regarding a Transportation Safety Board watch list, we can get you the public material we put out right after the TSB issued their watch list. We're working with the TSB. A lot of the recommendations they have concern regulatory action by the government, and we're hoping to gazette most of the regulations that were suggested in the TSB list. In some areas we are just working with TSB to see if there are practical solutions to some of their recommendations. This is a top priority for the minister, and he has instructed us to spend quite a lot of time ensuring that we have a good response to the watch list, because TSB has the same objective in mind as we do, and that is the safety of Canadians.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I just want to commend the fine folks in Brandon for hosting what I'm told was an excellent Memorial Cup Tournament and a spirited run by the Wheat Kings. We'll have to have you down our way at some point.
I knew a minister was coming today, Mr. Chair, because Gerard Kennedy is back at committee. So welcome back, Mr. Kennedy.
To the minister, you mentioned the vote yesterday in the Michigan legislature. Just to be clear, for the record, what the State of Michigan was considering, and the Senate will now be considering, is legislation to enable a public-private partnership, not a Michigan budget appropriation vote for the DRIC project. Is that correct?
