Transport Committee on March 18th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I'm going to have to stop it there. We're way past the five minutes.

Minister, could you be very brief?

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

I'll be very brief.

I think you're using what I would call “Kennedy math” and you're better than that.

Let me tell you this. Would I have loved to have spent it all immediately? You bet. Let me use two examples that you cited. One is that we offered all the provinces and territories.... Every province and territory has $175 million available under Building Canada. We said to every province and territory, we will give you that money right now if you want it, and a majority of the provinces said they'd take it. Some provinces said no, they didn't want it.

Ontario, our provincial government, said no, they were too busy with all these other projects and they wouldn't take it. And I don't criticize them for that. Other provinces took advantage of it.

Of this launch of programs, I will say that it is ten times better than any infrastructure program brought forward by the federal government at any time in the last 25 years. I'll give you an example. The MRIF program was a very successful program launched by the previous Liberal government. It was in the 2003 budget. In 2003-04 the government spent nothing. In 2004-05 the government spent nothing. In 2005-06 the government spent 0.04% of the budget. So it wasn't perfect.

Building Canada wasn't a heck of a lot better, frankly. So we've moved a heck of a lot faster than has ever been done before, and it takes time to work together. I'll give you an example. Your city of Toronto wanted a program--

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mississauga.

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

Sorry, Mississauga--your region.

Mississauga does a lot better, you're right. I concede that point. Hazel has already finished projects, she is not just starting them.

Take the city of Toronto, for example, in your region. It was the only application we got from the entire province of Ontario that was improperly submitted, because they wanted to spend what would notionally be their share over ten years. They knew it wasn't eligible, and they applied anyway. I said to Mayor Miller, you come back to me with projects that are eligible and I will hold money available for you. He did, and we were able to announce that in July. I wish we could have announced it in March, but we were only able to announce it in July. And inevitably, when you have 500 projects he wasn't going to be able to spend the majority.

I will put the public service, I will put the political leaders--federal, provincial, and municipal--and compare them against any single public infrastructure program launched. I'll go even further than 25 years and say since the Second World War and say that we've moved ten times faster. And that's a pretty great accomplishment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

Monsieur Desnoyers.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, my question has to do with the operating budget of The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated, which is increasing by about $13 million or $14 million, from $46 million to $60 million.

In your opinion, is this budget sufficient to undertake in the short term repairs to the Champlain Bridge? As you know, it is one of the busiest bridges in Canada. Currently it is also in very serious need of infrastructure repairs. That brings me to my question.

Given the $13 million or $14 million increase in the corporation's budget, do you think this injection of capital is sufficient to finally make the bridge safe?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Sure. You're absolutely right. The Champlain Bridge does need some repairs, there is no question of that. That's why, not in this budget but in the budget prior, $212 million was allocated for the Champlain Bridge for repairs over a ten-year period. We added to that in this budget another $51 million, I believe it was--$38 million and $19 million for the Mercier and the Champlain respectively.

So you're absolutely right, it's important that these bridges stay safe. The money that was allocated in the last two budgets is moving to ensure that this does happen. People from the area can be assured that they are safe. We will watch them very closely. They are run by a crown corporation, the Federal Bridge Corporation, and people can be assured that the bridges are safe.

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

I could also answer the question.

Let me just say that not only is safety important, it is mandatory. While safety is mandatory everywhere, I have to say that Quebec is well aware of safety considerations, in light of what happened during the construction of the Quebec Bridge one hundred years ago. Moreover, the report released by Pierre-Marc Johnson was very clear on this score.

I am not an engineer and my colleague is not one either, but when we receive a request concerning bridge safety, we make it a priority of ours. When we receive a notice that additional money is needed, we comply with that notice. It's very important to us. I know that it's a matter of great importance to Quebec and to our government.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

I'd like to come back to CATSA. You have allocated an additional $9 million for safety considerations. My colleague made an interesting suggestion, namely that we should perhaps revert to the old system where we had our own security guards.

Another colleague also mentioned that last December, people were quite frustrated when they had to go through security. It's a known fact that CATSA contracts out security work. It was clear at the time that the subcontractors did not have enough staff to meet needs. The same situation exists today. Does this mean that an additional $9 million will be allocated next year?

Mr. Merrifield, you stated that the savings of 20% or 25% that could be gained by contracting out this work may eventually not be realized. I'm not sure that contracting out the work is a cost-effective as it should be, considering how important security is and the fact that we're assigning that responsibility to others.

I'm also curious about the number of subcontractors in Canada who handle security matters. How many subcontractors were awarded contracts and who are they?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

When it comes to the contractors, they subcontract. Employees of CATSA are contracted out to different contractors. There are two or three of them across the country, or perhaps more than that. But that's not the issue you're talking about.

You're asking how we dealt with it when we hit the kind of stress we ran into on the days right after Christmas, after the attempted bombing, when we had new rules imposed on us by the United States. My colleagues Mr. Baird and Minister Van Loan--Minister of Public Safety at the time--went to exceptional measures because we had exceptional situations. We had lost and had to cancel over 200 flights--

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

My question to you was as follows: Who are the subcontractors? You appear to be telling me that there are two or three of them. Could there possibly be many more?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

We'll get you the exact numbers--6,000 plus.

[Luc Desnoyers, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I see.

My other question regarding subcontractors is as follows: Are steps taken to ensure that all of these subcontractors are properly informed of security standards?

I have travelled in a number of airports and I'm not sure they all have the same standards, or that these standards are applied evenly. So then, how do you ensure that the safety of passengers is taken into account when we go for the cheapest option? We try to get the best possible deal as far as security is concerned, when we know that today, security is becoming an increasingly important consideration.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I'll ask the minister to be very brief, please.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Certainly.

My colleague is really questioning whether these contractors are trained appropriately. I think that's what the issue is. That's one of the reasons why we're doing a full review of airport security. We have the same concerns that you do. We're going to do a very thorough job of that as we move forward into this very short time ahead.

Just getting back to December 25, my colleagues did bring in the RCMP, the Montreal police force, and Transport Canada officials to shore up the emergency situation. We're looking at streamlining that so it can be done efficiently in the future if it ever poses itself again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

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

Could I just jump in for one second?

On Christmas Day we had the events over southwestern Ontario coming into Detroit. We literally signed new security regulations in the middle of the night. I think Canadians understood on the 26th and 27th that there were going to be some problems and challenges when we had to put significant increases in measures in place.

Canadians will do their part, but they bloody expect the government to do their share as well in making sure that the proper staffing is in place. That's why we called in Transport Canada officials. The Montreal police did a phenomenal job in coming in to help us at Dorval. The RCMP did a great job at Pearson. By the 28th it began to recover. But we're conducting the CATSA review to look at some of these measures and how we can do a better job. Canadians will do their share, but they want the system to work better for them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Watson.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

With the minister cutting into my time like that, I'm feeling less love than Mr. Volpe here.

I'm kidding.

I want to ask a question of Minister Merrifield with respect to Canada Post, and then one on VIA Rail.

Picking up on rural mail delivery, as I drive from work to home in my own constituency, which is a rural constituency, I've seen a couple of situations. One is that I still continue to see drivers in left-hand vehicles driving against the flow of traffic in order to easily reach into the mail box. I'm not sure that is a proper situation. Or I've seen what is presumably at least the short-term solution, which is to add a second driver in the right-hand passenger seat to drive with the flow of traffic and be able to easily reach into roadside mail boxes. I'm not sure that the addition of a second driver is likely a long-term solution for what was originally an ergonomic problem of a single driver reaching all the way across into a mail box.

My question is whether you're aware of any analysis being conducted by Canada Post about the implementation of right-hand-drive vehicles with respect to rural mail delivery? If so, when do they expect to complete such an analysis, and is there any agreement with any auto maker or other tenderer, or some sort of agreement to provide right-hand vehicles, if it is deemed necessary to have them?

What can you tell us about that?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

I can tell you that Canada Post is looking at putting some right-hand-operated vehicles on the road to address those kinds of concerns. I think it's obvious that it's inappropriate for them to pull over to the opposite side of the road against the traffic.

So those safety concerns are being analyzed and addressed.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Okay.

With respect to VIA Rail, I recall in Budget 2007 some significant capital expenditures being made by the government, followed up of course in our economic action plan last year with some significant additional resources. I can speak from local experience: I know you were present to announce a new rail station in Windsor.

Can you talk about how those investments are being deployed? More broadly speaking, I've already put on the record that we're getting a new station for Windsor, but how are these investments being deployed in the Windsor-Quebec corridor and more broadly speaking across Canada? Can you give us an update on vote 75, I think it is, as I look at the estimates? Can you give us a better understanding of how that money is being deployed for VIA Rail?

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

Yes, I can. Congratulations on the new station in your riding. It is really a refurbishment of the full lines right from Windsor up to Quebec City.

Actually, I can announce that we are ahead of schedule in that refurbishment. There is $900 million in total, $407 million in economic action money in last year's economic action plan, with 85% actually spent, allocated already. That whole series of changes to that line is taking place at an accelerated rate.

As well, I was in Vancouver, where VIA was showing off one of their newly refurbished cars destined to go on the trans-Canada line, as well as some of the refurbished cars on the Windsor-Quebec corridor. These cars are really significantly improved—

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Yes. They're dramatically different.

[Rob Merrifield, Conservative, Yellowhead, AB]

They will give an opportunity for VIA Rail to add ridership. They certainly need to add ridership right across the country, if they're going to stay viable, because there's no question that taxpayers subsidize. We're pleased to be able, as a government, to make sure they have the tools to succeed.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

I want to come back to the Canada Post issue again with a brief question about right-hand-drive vehicles. Is there any offer of agreement, or what can you speculate or what do you know about providing right-hand-drive vehicles?

I might as well put it on the record. Is there some consideration given to a right-hand-drive version of the Grand Caravan in Windsor, with respect to Chrysler? What can you tell me?