Evidence of meeting #110 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was capacity.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I would like to let Mr. Buy paint a portrait of the ferry industry in one or two minutes. For example, how do you explain the current situation regarding the new ferry Northern Sea Wolf? What impact will these significant delays have on your industry?
1 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Ferry Association
Often, when purchasing a new ferry, operations must be carried out to ensure the safety of the vessel and how it is used. That is what is being done in the case of the Northern Sea Wolf, as was done in other regions. From time to time, there are delays in some projects. BC Ferries has other ferries that currently serve the region.
Yes, there are delays. Yes, that certainly has an impact, but every possible effort is being made to minimize that impact.
1 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Will the entire BC Ferries fleet be regularly renewed over the next few years? Is it reaching the end of its life?
1 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Ferry Association
I would not say that it is reaching the end of its life. In fact, I would not would not speak from the BC Ferries perspective in particular, but that of ferries in general, across the country. The Société des traversiers du Québec, which is one of our members, is renewing part of its fleet. Marine Atlantic, for its part, also needs renewal. Everyone needs to renew their fleets regularly, given the number of ferries. We have more than 180, some of which are more than 50 years old. Renewing the fleet is therefore a need.
That said, it does not only need to be renewed, but it also needs to be improved, namely making repairs and changes. In particular, the production of 100 submarines that attack whales in the region must be withdrawn. These are needs and operations that must be carried out for our fleet.
1 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
That said, we are not dealing with a problem like the one that involved the icebreakers. In that case, there was too much of a delay and it compromised the service.
1 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Ferry Association
The more time that is taken renewing the fleet, particularly when there is a need to do so, the more problems there are in some aspect.
I will give you some examples. When delays are imposed for the renewal of a fleet, there are vessels that are less effective and that burn more oil instead of natural gas, a fuel that would be better. There are changes that could be made to the security system that are not made. Would I say that it is a crisis? No, but there are clearly problems in that regard.
1 p.m.
Liberal
1 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I do have a short and small question.
Are there inefficiencies in our system because we basically leave the market to drive what we invest and where we invest?
Zoran, you're nodding. Is anybody else nodding or shaking their heads? Obviously what this will lead to.... Is there a need or a role for government to come in with a strategy that deals with inefficiencies?
1:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Port Alberni Port Authority
I was nodding because I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a leader coming from the federal government, since Marko, even though I like him, was only going to invest if it made business sense for him. It depends where the business strategy for the infrastructure fund is going to take them, so it may be here and it may not be.
Especially in a greenfield project such as we are proposing in Port Alberni, it's very risky for somebody to come and invest in that. We need government leadership or a strategy to move industry along the way, because we are expecting the private sector to build our infrastructure and it's not going to happen. Well, it will happen, but it's not going to happen in a timely manner and it's not going to address all the concerns that they have. I think that the government must be a leader in this.
1:05 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Ferry Association
I just want to make a very quick note.
You talked about bringing the government in as a leader, and that's good, but bring the whole sector in. You talked about 70% of the goods being transported by trucks, but the trucks go on ferries, which go on.... It's a network; it's not just one piece. You have to bring everybody together in order to find solutions. It's not about just one piece.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Quite frankly, Serge, that's our intent. That's why we're here. Again, I've been harping on that all day.
Under the minister's initiative, the intent is to establish a trade corridor strategy. It is important for the entire country. Therefore, we do take into consideration the multimodal hub of regions: rail, water, air, and road. From there, what kind of contributions can we make from the operational side, as it relates to the integrational logistics and distribution? Equally as important, to satisfy that, what contributions will the trade corridors fund make to actually become an enabler for you guys to achieve your goals that are contained within your individual strategic plans?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you all very much.
Thank you, Mr. Singh, for joining us as well. We do have the open mike session between 5:30 and 6:30, if you'd like to come back and reiterate a point that you think we didn't get or if you have something else to offer. You're very welcome.
We will suspend until 2:15.
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I call the meeting to order.
We have with us the Canada Border Services Agency. Roslyn MacVicar is Regional Director General of the Pacific region.
Welcome. We're pleased to see you.
From the Chamber of Shipping, we have Robert Lewis-Manning, President, and Bonnie Gee, Vice-President.
From British Columbia Coast Pilots Ltd., we have Captain Roy Haakonson, President, and Captain Robin Stewart, Vice-President.
Welcome to all of you. Again, our apologies for keeping you waiting. Thank you very much.
Who would like to start?
Go ahead, Ms. MacVicar, please.
September 26th, 2018 / 2:15 p.m.
Rosyln MacVicar Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Canada Border Services Agency
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Roslyn MacVicar, and I am the regional director general for the Canada Border Services Agency in the Pacific region. I'd like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to provide an overview of our operations here in the Pacific region.
As you heard from colleagues in Ontario, the CBSA's mission is to ensure the security and prosperity of Canada by managing the access of people and goods to and from Canada. Here within the Pacific region, which is inclusive of British Columbia and the Yukon, approximately 1,900 employees ensure that this mission is achieved in all modes. That includes air, rail, highway, postal, and marine.
In 2017 our staff were responsible for processing 23 million travellers, eight million vehicles, 2.2 million commercial releases, 44 million courier shipments, and almost 37 million pieces of international mail.
Tomorrow you will tour the Metro Vancouver marine operations, an area that encompasses the largest marine port in Canada. It is responsible for the clearance of commercial vessels and goods, cruise ships, and personal vessels. Marine operations will conduct examinations of marine vessels, travellers and crew, inbound and outbound marine containers, and non-containerized commodities. Operations focus primarily on enforcement, analysis, inspection and monitoring of activities in the third-largest port, by tonnage, in the Americas.
More than three million containers pass through the port of Vancouver every year, and more than 142 million metric tons of goods are risk-assessed and controlled by the CBSA in the Vancouver area. Total volumes through the Pacific region account for 57% of marine container freight in Canada.
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Ms. MacVicar, could you go a little bit slower? I know it's tight at five minutes, but it's hard for the translator to keep up.
Thank you.
2:15 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Canada Border Services Agency
Okay.
The second stop on your tour will be at the Pacific Highway District. This district is located in the Lower Mainland of southwest British Columbia across the 49th parallel from the state of Washington, and it's on the direct path between the two major cities of Seattle and Vancouver. The district, which includes five border crossings, stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the central Fraser Valley, and is a key North American portal for travellers and goods entering Canada through the Cascade gateway region. With an average of more than 11 million travellers and over one million commercial releases per year, the district is the primary corridor for western Canada land border trade and travel.
This vital trade corridor alone is estimated to facilitate over $68 million every day in cross-border trade. In all modes, the CBSA's risk assessment, targeting, and examination phases play an important role in the overall commercial facilitation and enforcement process.
While the Customs Act authorizes the CBSA to conduct examinations of commercial shipments, our staff consider commerce and trade requirements and the need to comply with regulations while ensuring safety and security of Canadians.
The CBSA's marine and highway commercial examination programs are necessary to support national security and public safety priorities. Examinations control the movement of goods suspected of national security threats, contraband smuggling, other government department controls, commercial compliance, and revenue collection. Nationally, that equated to over $30 billion in duties and taxes in fiscal year 2017-18, which was approximately 11% of Government of Canada revenue for that same period.
The CBSA is cognizant of the economic impact that examinations may have on importers and exporters. We strive to maintain that delicate balance between ensuring security while all the time facilitating the free flow of goods.
A variety of tools are employed to identify any potential contraband and dangerous goods. That includes X-ray imaging, gamma ray imaging, radiation detection, laboratory services, cameras, scopes, and measuring devices. For example, the use of non-intrusive examination tools such as radiation portals, which 100% of all containers pass through, expedites the examination and release processes of shipments selected for examination.
The CBSA is continually looking at modernizing border management, including the examination process. We've been working very closely with the port of Vancouver and industry to ensure trade chain transparency and supply chain security.
As a result, two new marine container examination facilities are being built closer in proximity to the marine terminals: one in Tsawwassen and one at the Burrard Inlet.
The CBSA's overarching objectives with these investments are to reduce costs, increase examination capacity in Vancouver, and reduce overall processing times for clients.
The new Tsawwassen container examination facility, referred to as TCEF, is double the size of the current outdated facility in Burnaby, with significantly greater capacity for the acceptance and examination of containers. It will conduct examinations of the most high-risk containers arriving mainly from the Deltaport terminal and the Fraser Surrey docks. The TCEF will also house state-of-the-art technology to conduct full off-load examinations of high-risk marine containers.
While you were in the southern Ontario region on Tuesday, you would have heard about the CBSA's secure corridor pilot to expedite commercial processing. Here in the Pacific region we too are modernizing commercial processing by piloting a first for the CBSA, the design and construction of a fixed large-scale imaging system at the Pacific Highway commercial crossing.
2:20 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Canada Border Services Agency
Okay.
I'd like to assure everybody—
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I like to keep everybody to five minutes in order for the members to get their questions in.
2:20 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Canada Border Services Agency
Okay.
I'd like to assure the committee that we're very cognizant that our actions have a direct impact on the vitality of Canada's trade and travel industries. At the same time, we will be relentlessly focused on the important role we play ensuring safety and security of Canada and Canadians.
Madam Chair, as a public servant, it's an honour and a privilege to be with you and the members today.
Thank you for your interest in the important work that we do.
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
2:20 p.m.
Robert Lewis-Manning President, Chamber of Shipping
If it's all right, the pilots were going to go next.