Evidence of meeting #42 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vehicles.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Thank you.
I have a couple of comments, and I think that will wrap it up for us.
Could Canada Post provide us with a forecast for its fleet for the next five years and how many of them may be propane? What mix are you going to have in the future? I'm not asking for it today, but if you would provide it to the committee in writing, it would be appreciated.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
It's an interesting discussion. Our family's been involved with propane gas and propane for 35 years. It strikes me as unusual or odd, or whatever, that propane wasn't an alternative fuel 20 years ago, as opposed to having the discussion today. I don't know whether an opportunity has been missed in the industry or whether it's just been neglect by the consumer not to look for better options or different options.
You're being challenged, obviously, by many other alternative fuels right now. Given that you've been in the market for so long, I almost find it unfortunate that you don't have a higher profile.
I don't know if you want to comment on that, but, please go ahead.
Vice-President, Alternative Fuels, Roush Cleantech
I would agree. I think it's neglect, public and private, to be honest with you. When you look at the last 30 to 50 years, the low cost of traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel have not forced us to look for alternatives, whereas around the world they have.
I would also say that, yes, we've been around for a long time, but the technology needs to evolve to support the fleets like Canada Post's, to make sure that it makes sense for them. I come from a Ford background and they were producing electric vehicles back in the 1910s and today we've not made much progress a hundred years later either.
So I think it's about having a public-private partnership and making sure that we use the resources that we have in North America.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Does natural gas give the same type of boost in power that propane does?
Vice-President, Alternative Fuels, Roush Cleantech
Typically, it's a little bit less. It's gotten better over the years. There used to be a significant degradation in horsepower and torque, but now it's probably 10%. In fleet vehicles, though, they're not really going for horsepower and torque. But, yes, there's a definite degradation in power compared to liquid injection propane.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Thank you.
We appreciate your input today. We're on a bit of a tight timeline, but if you could provide any information that's been asked for as soon as possible, that would be wonderful.
Thank you very much.
We're going to take a brief two-minute recess, and then come back and deal with a private member's bill, a phenomenal bill.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Order, please. We're ready to proceed.
We have in front of us Bill C-321. It is my bill and I've checked with the clerk and there are no witnesses and no amendments that we know of.
In the last session, I presented myself as a witness, but since nothing has changed and there have been no changes to the entire bill, I'm going to continue to chair. If people feel there's a conflict, let me know and I'll remove myself.
The order of reference is An Act to amend the Canada Post Corporation Act (library materials). We are going to go into clause by clause, but I'll open the floor.
Ms. Chow.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Chair, I want to thank you for your tenacity and determination in getting this bill in front of us. It finally is in front of us. It's important, especially for people who are disabled or seniors who can't get to a library, or those who live in rural Canada and many small towns. It's important to be able to receive materials in the mail. It probably feels like Christmas when a book arrives in the mail.
It's not just important for small towns—though I imagine it would be critical for small communities—but also for the city of Toronto, because the reduced postal rate will have a $26,000 impact there. That's not a huge amount of money for a big library in the city of Toronto, but—
Liberal
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Anyway, the reason I mentioned the $26,000 is that I went to my central library in Toronto and asked what kind of impact it would have, and that's the dollar amount.
I think that's very important and I'm supporting Bill C-321.
Conservative
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
I was just going to move, with unanimous consent, that you're a wonderful human being.
