Transport Committee on May 23rd, 2018

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It's for me a pleasure to identify as well as recognize which government was out of touch for the past 10 years, especially when they had the opportunity to do exactly what the member across is actually talking about and never did a darn thing.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Hold on, Mr. Badawey.

[Matt Jeneroux, Conservative, Edmonton Riverbend, AB]

To clarify the record, the Alberta Clipper was built, Enbridge Southern Lights was built, Kinder Morgan's Anchor Loop was built, and the Keystone pipeline—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ten years of it and thank God it's past us.

Madam Chair, if I may—

[Ron Liepert, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Wait until 2019.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

—I'll direct a question to the minister.

Minister, thank you for being here this evening to give some reality to this discussion.

You had mentioned the fact of the mitigation and adaptation initiative that you brought forward most recently, with that attaching itself to the many situations some Canadians are finding themselves in. Can you dig a bit deeper in terms of what this means for Canadians, especially those areas that are seeing some of these challenges, and of course, with that, the families that are affected by those same challenges?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Thank you so much for that question.

One of the reasons why we have created this $2-billion disaster mitigation and adaptation fund is to respond to the real needs of Canadians. As many members may remember, we had severe flooding in Calgary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The minister is trying to answer the questions. Could everybody be polite and just listen?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

I would really hope, Madam Chair, that members will listen to what I'm going to say next, particularly those from Calgary, because we are responding to the needs of Calgarians through this disaster mitigation and adaptation fund. We also experienced very severe wildfires in Fort McMurray where 80,000 people were displaced. We're also responding to that through this adaptation fund.

We believe that climate change is having a real impact on our infrastructure and on our communities. We have created this fund to build the resilience of those communities so that they can respond to the impacts of climate change on the infrastructure that they own.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Again, sticking with the theme of reality, if I may, I'll now continue on to the bilateral agreements.

Could you elaborate a bit more on the importance of the bilateral agreements as well as the partnership that's being created with the different provinces and territories, and of course, with those partnerships, the outcomes that we're starting to recognize throughout the country?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Through you, Madam Chair, one of the reasons that I ran for federal office—my background is municipal, and I worked at city council for eight years—is that the municipalities need long-term sustainable and predictable funding in order to plan the infrastructure that they have and in order to build and respond to the growing needs in their communities.

Through these bilateral agreements, we are investing $30 billion along with additional funding through gas tax funding as well as disaster mitigation trade and transportation. This additional $30 billion will give them the predictability that they need over the next 10 years to build the infrastructure their communities need in the area of public transportation, so that they can reduce commute time for their residents, build waste-water systems to provide clean water to the communities, or build recreational facilities that they need for healthy living. That's exactly what we're delivering on.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Are you finding, Minister, that this is then becoming an enabler for the different municipalities, therefore alleviating the financial burden placed on property taxpayers?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

It is.

We're also committed to increasing the federal cost share to 40% for certain projects. It could also go up to 50% of the cost share for small communities and 60% of the cost share for communities with a population of less than 5,000.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

It relieves pressure on property taxes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Next is Mr. Aubin, for four minutes.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for attending this meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. The topic I am going to discuss with you involves all three aspects of the committee's name.

In Transport Canada's 2018-2019 departmental plan, the department presents its three core responsibilities: a safe and secure transportation system, a green and innovative transportation system and an efficient transportation system. It seems to me that VIA Rail's proposed infrastructure project, which consists in building a new track solely for transporting passengers on the north shore, specifically addresses these three pillars: transport, infrastructure and communities.

However, I must say that, since the last budget, the people of Trois-Rivières, like those of other municipalities, are concerned and disappointed with the direction in which this route seems to be going. They are left wondering, because the wording always seems to be changing. The Minister of Transport, who was in Trois-Rivières recently, told us that the private sector had to participate in the project in order to get it rolling. At least, that's what the people where I'm from understood.

Does his statement tell us that VIA Rail's proposed high-frequency rail project will be funded by the Canada Infrastructure Bank?

If so, we're not only talking about public funds. The government would also need private funding before taking action, correct?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

I can't specifically comment on VIA Rail because Mr. Garneau is responsible for that particular area. I can say that the reason we have created the Canada Infrastructure Bank is to undertake large transport projects that otherwise may never get built. These are projects that are too large for the public sector to undertake or that the private sector will not undertake because of the risk associated with them.

What we want to do is to bring the private sector and the public sector together to explore options to build projects that will connect communities through high-speed rail or a better or more green electrical grid system. Those are the options we want to explore through the bank.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

I'll make this even easier for you.

As the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, do you believe that it is appropriate to invest in this type of infrastructure, whether or not its funding is provided in full by the public purse, or by the Bank? Does your government believe in funding this type of infrastructure?

We're talking about Canada's most densely populated corridor. If we do not get this done in this corridor, I really wonder where we will be able to develop a mode of transportation that is essential, innovative, green, and so on.

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

Absolutely. I agree with you that these are the kinds of projects we need to build, and infrastructure funding that is available through other funding options, through municipalities, and through provinces is exactly the reason we are investing, or doubling our existing investments. We want to provide that interprovincial or intermunicipal connection between cities, to move people in a way that is more sustainable and more environmentally responsible.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Earlier, I mentioned the 2018-2019 departmental plan. Am I right to celebrate and say that, since the final year is 2019, the 2019 budget will include the announcement we've been waiting for throughout 2018, and that, unfortunately, has yet to be made?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Edmonton Mill Woods, AB]

What I can say is that resources have been allocated to VIA Rail for the expansion, as well as for some of the design work that needs to be done.

Deputy Minister.

[Kelly Gillis, Deputy Minister, Infrastructure and Communities, Office of Infrastructure of Canada]

On the subject of VIA Rail, the funding will have to be allocated to the Department of Transport. As the minister said, this will be discussed with Mr. Garneau.