Evidence of meeting #26 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bridge.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
How many cars do you expect to be on the bridge on a daily basis?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
We are assessing that information right now. I can ask Mr. Brazeau to—
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
It's okay. You either have the answer or you don't. I understand; you're in the middle of assessing that.
One of the Conservative MPs asked the question, how have we managed to accelerate that timeframe? Let's just take a look at the timeframe.
You started a team in January 2014. The government has known since its election in 2006 that there's a serious problem. It took five years for the government to announce there would be a new bridge. During that time they found the time to go find a former CFL football player, put him in the Senate, then bring him to the bridge, have him announce his candidacy for a local seat, promise $120 million to fix the bridge, and then when he lost his seat, put him back in the Senate.
There have been games played with this bridge now for five, six, seven years.
You're in a tough spot. I understand and respect that. You pulled together a team on January 1. You really can't tell us what the flow will be, what the rate will be, what the distributive effects will be on other bridges, on transit, on roadways, can you? You're not in a position to tell us that, yet you are still running to market for a $3 billion to $5 billion public-private partnership.
Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Why don't we have these numbers done first?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
Mr. Chair, we do have information. It is preliminary. It's part of the business case, and the business case provided sufficient information for the government to move ahead with the project as a public-private partnership. In the process, given the fact that we want the private bidder for this project to be the best possible value for money—
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
That's understood. Is the RFP written? Is the request for proposal finished and out in the marketplace yet?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
It is being written.
Liberal
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
It is being written. The team is working full-time.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
When will it be on the market? When will bidders be bidding?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
In July 2014, so in a couple of months. We have now achieved the first stage, which is the request for qualification.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
What was the last major bridge built in Canada, and how much did it cost?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport
I will have to turn to Marc Brazeau for that.
Marc Brazeau Director General, New Bridge for the St. Lawrence , Department of Transport
The Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver opened in December 2012. With regard to the cost of that, by memory.... I'd have to get back to you.
Director General, New Bridge for the St. Lawrence , Department of Transport
It was supposed to be a PPP contract let out in 2008. During a financial crisis, that didn't materialize. It turned into a designed build, so it was let out around 2008. It was about five years of construction.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
This is my last question, Mr. Chairman.
Is it half the size of the bridge in Montreal?
Director General, New Bridge for the St. Lawrence , Department of Transport
I'll do it very quickly.
The bridge itself is a little bit smaller, but the highway corridor is much longer. It is a 37-kilometre highway corridor versus ours, which is three kilometres of highway. That's why there's a time difference. We are looking at four construction seasons for the new bridge for the St. Lawrence, so 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Okay, thank you.
We'll now move to Mr. Komarnicki, for five minutes.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I'm always astonished that there's a great degree of misalignment on regulations. It's obviously a point of frustration for anyone who needs to comply. Then there's the cost. You mentioned that. I haven't heard anybody indicate what you've heard in terms of public reaction to misalignments.
Would anybody care to comment on that before I move to another subject?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Well, the RCC initiative is one that comes from the stakeholders themselves: from the industry, the people who are manufacturing those products, from the people who use those products, also, the general public who try to bring products from Canada to the United States, for example, car seats or other pieces of equipment. Even your barbecue tank could be subject to that harmonization, when we were talking about the containment on the TDG side. So it's of great concern, as Mr. Leclerc mentioned, in a very integrated market. Our continuous effort to harmonize on all fronts is something that is present on a day-to-day basis. We want to reiterate that safety is our top priority and we want to continue to give due process for consultations with the different stakeholders in the general public.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
One of the other proposed changes, which is in a different topic area, was exempting Transport Canada investigators from having to testify at civil trials unless so directed by the minister. I would like to get some background information as to why it might be that people who are involved in a civil trial might want Transport Canada investigators to testify, and there must be some balancing of interests. Again, if the direction must come from the minister, I'd also like to know if there are some objective standards around that decision-making process.
I'm not sure who would like to tackle that, but give me some background information, some context on why you think it's necessary and what kind of balancing of interest there might be. Is there some objectivity in terms of decisions that ultimately might be made by the minister?
Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Mr. Chairman, I'll ask Mr. Kash to start on the subject, and if we need help, we have our general counsel in the back.
Director General, Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation, Department of Transport
Mr. Chair, it occurs quite often that, given that motor vehicles are consumer products and there are collisions, there are civil cases, there are litigants involved, individual A versus individual B taking each other to court. It occurs fairly often that they rely on employees of government to serve as free witnesses, free technical resources.
These are most often cases where there's really nothing to be gained for the public good. These are just two litigants who are taking each other to court. There isn't a technical aspect. There's nothing that could benefit the general public. Given that it's in their private interest, we feel it's appropriate that they depend on the private sector, on consultants and the engineering firms that could supply them with such advice, as opposed to using free advice from public servants. Now, there are situations where there is a public interest to be served, in which case the minister would want the public servant to testify, and we would do so.