Thank you, Mr. Chair.
What I want to do is really find some ways to talk about the motion that was in front of us last Thursday. I can assure Mr. Burke that we will definitely hear him and that we will definitely have a chance to discuss Westport's contribution to the new emerging technologies.
When I left off last week I wanted to talk about the importance of our committee studying the three changes in front of our committee in Bill C-38. I was reading the first changes that we have in front of us. I believe there are two sections that are being changed in the Railway Safety Act, which we really need to study. The first one is section 16 of the act, to which would be added after subsection (5), which gives the order in council:
(5.1) The Governor in Council may make regulations exempting any railway work, or any person or railway company, from the application of subsection (4.1).
Subsection (4.1) was added to say that:
if...the proponent of the railway work...is a road authority, the maximum amount of the construction and alteration costs of the railway work that the Agency may, under subsection (4), apportion to the road authority is 12.5% of those costs.
My question is, why is that 12.5%? If it's a higher percentage, why is it a higher percentage, etc.?
And then there's another section. It basically asks that the regulation would be published for a short period of time so that people would be able to comment.
That's the first change that we really need to look at.
The second change is to the Canada Marine Act, and it won't take very long.
In the Canada Marine Act, again, if any port authority wants to borrow money, that has to be approved by the Governor in Council, i.e., the cabinet needs to approve how much money is being borrowed. I'm not necessarily against that. I think it's a good idea to have the order in council, but again, we really need to look at why there is a change.
So basically there are three parts that were changed. The first one is in the Railway Safety Act, with the 12.5% question; the second part is the one giving the power to cabinet to exempt any railway work in any application; and the third is the part of the Canada Marine Act that asks that the Governor in Council must approve any borrowing.
Actually, there's another portion about the appointment of CEOs of airlines, I believe, that are governed by the government; they have to be picked by the Governor in Council, the cabinet. Again, there's a centralization of power. I question why that has to occur. That's why my motion is to request that this committee examine the changes in Bill C-38, which is the budget bill that we voted on yesterday.
It's in front of the finance committee, but I don't believe the finance committee will look at matters that are related to the Transport Canada portfolio.