Transport Committee on Oct. 4th, 2018

[Michael Broad]

None. In fact, if you look at the east coast, there's been a lot of tanker activity in the last number of years. If you look at Placentia Bay, and Quebec and Montreal and even the lakes, there's some tanker business. That's been going on for a long time and without incident.

I might also say that in 2016 or 2017, the administrator of the ship-source oil pollution fund issued a report showing the number of oil spills in the last 10 years. There were no oil spills by any foreign-flag ship. Most of the oil spills in Canada are from derelict vessels, abandoned vessels and that kind of thing.

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

You would probably agree with us, then, that this was a decision that was not made based on any kind of statistical data or science. It was a decision that was made to meet a campaign promise that was made fleetingly on an airplane somewhere over northern British Columbia.

[Michael Broad]

I'd agree with the first part of that.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

I think the second part is agreeable, too.

I don't have any more questions, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Liepert.

We'll go on to Mr. Graham for three minutes.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Orb, you represent the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. These municipalities, I assume, charge taxes. How often do these municipalities go around to the residents and collect garbage and recycling?

[Ray Orb]

Several of the rural municipalities are. Actually, there are disposal companies that most of them hire, and they haul the garbage and do the recycling as well. Saskatchewan right now is working on its waste management strategy.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

If we didn't do that, what would be happening?

[Ray Orb]

We would have a lot of garbage piling up.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

We could call this garbage pollution, could we not?

[Ray Orb]

Pardon me?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

We could call this garbage pollution.

[Ray Orb]

I suppose we could.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Could I assume, then, that the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities supports a price on pollution?

[Ray Orb]

A price on pollution...? No, we don't.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

No? Well, then, you allow your garbage to go free.

[Ray Orb]

Obviously, that's not fair. You probably need to read the climate change action plan that Saskatchewan has. They actually have a way to mitigate greenhouse gases. I know it's up for debate, but there is a plan there.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Mr. Hardie.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

On that happy note, moving right along, I wanted to talk a bit about MCTS, because that was the focus of a very early study by the fisheries committee, where I also sit. Some of us were not necessarily on side with the government's decision to close the Comox base. I'm wondering, Mr. Broad, from your constituency's perspective, whether you find the existing MCTS services reliable.

[Michael Broad]

I think they're reliable, yes, but there's so much more we could do with that system. With the information that the....

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Okay, fair enough.

Mr. Orb, this issue came up when you were with us before. It's come up again in this current study. It's about the health of our short lines. I know that the Saskatchewan short lines were particularly helpful in terms of illustrating what the situation is. Where do they fit in the grand scheme of things, in that whole pipeline of trade—pardon the expression; it's for Ron's benefit—that goes out to the coast?

How important are they, and how much of a weak link do you think they might be?

[Ray Orb]

That's a good question. We've actually been working with the short line association and we have demonstrated that by taking several trucks off our highways and road systems and putting it on a rail car, we're actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We should actually be credited for that. We're hoping that the federal government takes it into account when they finally realize that this carbon tax is actually wrong.

I just wanted to mention that the short lines in Saskatchewan are an integral part of moving grain. We have more short-line railroads in Saskatchewan than there are in the rest of the country. They provide a valuable service. They often don't get good service, so we're looking at this legislation. Even though the short lines are regulated in Saskatchewan, we're hoping that the new Bill C-49 actually takes into account the carriers and makes them more accountable, because in the end it's mostly CP Rail that picks up the cars and takes them away.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Orb.

We'll go on to Mr. Jeneroux.