Evidence of meeting #58 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 transportation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
We are now in public.
The motion, Mr. Watson, is that the draft report, as amended, be adopted.
(Motion agreed to)
That's carried unanimously.
Motion number two is that the report be entitled. Would somebody like to move this motion?
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
I would say, “Transportation Technology: Let's Get Moving”.
3:55 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
“Transportation Innovation” or what...? “Innovation in Transportation” or...?
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Use “Innovative Transportation Technologies”. That's your title. I just read it.
3:55 p.m.
A voice
It's the orders of the day.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
The chair obviously forgot that. Okay.
(Motion agreed to)
Motion number three is that the chair, clerk, and analysts be authorized to make such grammatical and editorial changes as may be necessary without changing the substance of the report. Who would like to move that?
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Motion number four is that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request that the government table a comprehensive response to the report. Moved by....
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Motion number five is that the chair present the report to the House. Who would like to move that?
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Chair, there's one more thing.
The NDP has a three-page minority report, and we'll submit it as written. I believe it has been translated and is in both official languages. We'll submit it and it will be appended to your report.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
I just want to say two or three things, quickly.
First, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we learned a great deal in the preceding months when we heard from a lot of experts and witnesses. One of the key areas in which I've learned a lot is that we live in a global world, and we need to look at standards occasionally that are European or Asian, allow those standards to be transferable, and allow the regulations to be streamlined by the ministry. That would unleash the power of the private sector to be more innovative. We heard that very loud and clear, and I'm glad the recommendations dealt with that.
The second point that I think was very helpful to note is that the government has a role to play from time to time in providing encouragement and support for new technology, especially emerging technologies. There's a bit of debate as to how active the government should be. My friends across the way think the government shouldn't be terribly active; others think that maybe it should be. There's a different definition of what active means. That's one of the reasons we have a minority report. We think it's a limited role, but I think government has a role to encourage innovation.
Third, the reason we have a minority report is that we firmly believe there are emerging technologies that can be rapidly applied to our transport sector. For example, around the world Bombardier has made us very proud with their electric trains. I've been on a few of them and there's no reason we couldn't have them introduced in Canada. That's why we have a minority report that talks about electric trains, electric buses, electric cars, and also about active transportation, such as cycling, and other areas, such as putting side guards on trucks to make them aerodynamic. At the end of the day, it's good for the environment, it's good for the industry, it creates jobs, and it moves products and people.
I want to thank the committee members. We were able to work together to bring this report to fruition. Thus, we want to submit the minority report to you.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Mike Sullivan NDP York South—Weston, ON
On the same topic, I want to thank the committee for what I found to be a very enlightening process. There are some emerging technologies which clearly we should never go anywhere near, but there are a lot of emerging technologies that I hadn't even thought about, such as using liquefied natural gas as a fuel, perhaps as a stepping stone to a hydrogen-fuelled vehicle in the future that would be driven by electricity, obviously.
The use of international standards as a mechanism to pick winners and losers in the transportation field was clearly a problem. I think the government now understands that, or at least the members of this committee understand and after you've presented the report the government will understand that those problems that are hampering Canada's advances in the transportation field are problems the government should turn its attention to. That's not necessarily with the idea of spending money, but with the idea of finding ways to make our regulatory systems easier for the transportation sector to use, whether we're talking about safety regulations that are different from country to country or fuel-handling regulations that are different from country to country. You can't cross the border from Canada to the U.S. and vice versa with a propane vehicle because the handling regulations are different.
Those kinds of decisions by the government need to be looked at by the department, I guess. They need to be looked at with a view to making Canada's transportation sector more efficient and effective, to lowering costs for consumers, to lowering costs for government, and to opening up markets for Canadian innovation that we currently don't have in Canada. As Ms. Chow said, all kinds of Canadian innovation goes on in Europe, in China, and in India with Canadian products that can't be sold here because our regulations are such that those products are not permitted to be used here for safety reasons or other reasons.
One of those technologies we studied I would hardly call emerging, because electric trains have been in existence in the U.S. since 1908. They're hardly emerging, but they are emerging in the sense that Canada doesn't have any. We have not kept pace with the rest of the world, and unfortunately the main report doesn't get into any great detail on that. The minority report does suggest that the federal government has a role to play both in the regulatory system in convincing the rail companies that currently have oligopolistic or monopolistic control over their rails that they need to allow for the electrification of passenger rail and eventually of freight rail as well, as is happening in Europe. That's part of what our minority report intends to do, to put forward rationale and purpose for the electrification of some of Canada's rail system in a more efficient way.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
4 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
I think it's appropriate, though she's not here today, to thank our analyst for synthesizing quite a large amount of witness testimony and the interests of committee members into ultimately what we arrived at. I can't imagine that was a simple task in a short period of time, but I think she did a formidable job, and I think the committee should appropriately recognize her.
4 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
That certainly will be done in the blues or the Hansard of the meeting.
