Transport Committee on Oct. 18th, 2018

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Mr. Korosec.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Please be very short.

[Stan Korosec]

It's no surprise that QEW congestion affects traffic crossing our bridge. There is a lot of what we call “in-transit” truck movement between New York and Michigan that comes right through Peace Bridge or the Queenston-Lewiston, crossing at Blue Water or down at Detroit-Windsor. What happens way back there affects us over here too.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Korosec.

Ms. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

To all of our witnesses, thank you for being here. I have appreciated your testimony.

I have some questions for Mr. McGrath, but first I do feel the need to make an observation and get this on the record. I think this is in response to one of our witness's answers to my colleague's question in regard to marijuana.

You know, Mr. Korosec, just this past summer the National Post reported that a poll suggested that 55% of Canadians wanted the legalization of cannabis delayed, with the majority of people in this country deeply concerned that we were not ready to deal with impaired drivers. Just earlier this week, we heard from the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association that this is of great concern to them, so our questions come from I think an understanding that many, many Canadians are concerned, which associations across the country have highlighted to us, and from just wanting to find out from your organizations if in fact you had done anything in preparation for this. I think when you make the those kinds of comments, it belittles not only our questions but the concerns of a majority of Canadians.

Having said that, I would like to ask Mr. McGrath a couple of questions.

Knowing that Labrador City is quite remote and that there are perhaps many challenges facing the businesses and residents in Labrador City, I'm wondering if you could define some of those for us with respect to transportation. Then perhaps you can comment on what impact the carbon tax may have for you.

[Nick McGrath]

First of all, with regard to Labrador City, we don't use the word “remote” anymore. We very pleased to see the Trans-Labrador Highway finally open. That highway was built over the last decade, and it was a long time coming. It took away a lot of the remoteness. I know that when I moved to Labrador 40 years ago, for all of our goods we relied on the railway to bring them in. The trucking industry has now taken over a lot of that. The rail line, as I mentioned earlier, is open 12 months of the year. It runs very efficiently, but if the economy continues to improve the way it is improving now.... The rate of use on that rail line is certainly making a big difference.

The carbon tax will have a certain effect on the economy in Labrador West. As I was saying to Ms. Jones' assistant when we were waiting for the session to start, I listened to an interview of a lady who did a conference last week in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She made the very valid point that the government has probably made a mistake in using the word “tax”. Perhaps we should be looking at it as carbon “insurance” rather than as a carbon tax. I think it would be much more acceptable by the people.

It will have an effect. I think it will have a negative and a positive effect, because I think the carbon tax is necessary to a certain degree but I don't think we should be looking at it as a tax. We need to be looking at it as insurance in terms of the effect it will have in improving global climate change.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Just in follow-up to that, we know that the Liberal government indirectly admitted that their carbon tax will have a negative impact on the three territories when they exempted the carbon tax on aviation fuel used in those territories. Do you think the federal government should exempt this tax from all aviation fuel used in remote regions—perhaps even in your area, even though you no longer identify as being remote?

[Nick McGrath]

I don't think I'd be out of line to say that there are parts of Labrador that depend on air service to get to their communities, especially on the north coast of Labrador. The aviation tax will have a major effect in those areas where in those communities, if they don't have the air service, they do not get out. From the perspective of Labrador West, we have the road now, so it does make a difference, but for other parts of Labrador, it should certainly be considered.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I have just one final question in response to your perspective on the carbon tax. We've also had the Minister of Environment indicate that many large emitters are also going to be exempt from the carbon tax.

I'm just wondering how you square that circle with saying it's necessary, yet we're going to be omitting a majority of the largest emitters in this country.

[Nick McGrath]

Again, I think it's something that's going to be a work in progress constantly.

I think by having the carbon tax there—and I hate using the word “tax”—we're forcing a lot of these large industrial companies to look at better, more efficient ways to produce their products.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

But we're exempting them.

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I gather Mr. Badawey is sharing a minute or two of his time with Ms. Jones?

Go ahead, Ms. Jones.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, panellists, for being here this morning.

Obviously this is an issue that is very close to the hearts of many Canadians in terms of the direction government will take. I'm a member of Parliament from Labrador, so I'm very pleased to see Councillor McGrath here this morning.

I'd like to direct my questions to him around the northern transportation issues, and some of the things that he feels we need to be focusing more on in northern regions in Canada.

We live in a huge mining area, employing thousands of people, but are landlocked when it comes to expanding our operations to get ore to markets and to be able to export appropriately.

If you were to make recommendations to the committee today on where the Government of Canada should be going in opening up those trade corridors and allowing more access to markets for industry, what would be some of those recommendations that you feel would work in the northern Labrador region that you live in?

[Nick McGrath]

I stated earlier, and you just used the word again that I used, that we are landlocked in Labrador when it comes to our mining industry. We depend on the rail line. I spoke about the Port of Sept-Îles, earlier. It's very important that it be efficient. If we have stockpiles of ore sitting on the ground because the ships can't get into the port, then they're not making money. It's not making money sitting there in a yard in Sept-Îles. That's one of the biggest concerns we have with the economy rebounding the way it is right now in Labrador and northern Quebec.

If the ore is sitting in the yard in Sept-Îles because the ships cannot efficiently move back and forth, that's not making money. The shareholders of those large companies, at the end of the day, sit and say, “Here's our production, but we're not getting our product to market. Why?”

This is why it's so important that the port in Sept-Îles continue to be efficient. Also, as I said before, investments have been made in it, but I think it's very important that the federal government continue to look at that so that we can continue that production.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We go back to Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Jones, for that question. That is so relevant to our discussions with respect to the trade corridors on a national basis.

What I find from having heard the witnesses for the past two weeks, across the entire country, is the same theme. What's most frustrating is when I hear the words “capacity availability”, or “at 50% capacity”. What's more interesting is what's causing that. It's surely not the market, because the market's there. It's the infrastructure. It's the fluidity or lack thereof.

One of the things I've been looking forward to with this process, with all the partners, right from Labrador all the way down to Vancouver, is to try to gain that proper vision for 2018 looking 30 or 50 years forward with regard to how we can best have that fluidity to move trade throughout the domestic market as well as internationally.

I want to thank you folks for being here today, because you're going to add to that overall—as you call it, Ms. Zimmerman—strategy, that overall blueprint, through which we can bring the nation with respect to our trade corridors. That will allow us to perform better on the global trade market, with more strength. You folks are all going to be a part of that. This discussion doesn't end today. This is going to be ongoing for some time, and I look forward to you folks being participants in that in the overall dialogue.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Badawey.

Mr. Liepert, go ahead for one minute.

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

I just want to clarify something, Madam Chairman.

Ms. Zimmerman, in your presentation, did I hear you say that no new major highway construction has happened in Canada in the last 10 years?

[Debbie Zimmerman]

No, I said in the last 15 years. I had understood that it was in the last 15 years, but I've now been corrected—by my colleague to the left of me—that it was 10 years.

I was looking at particularly in Ontario. Other than the 407—

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

I wanted to correct this for the record, Madam Chair. The Canadian borders do not end at Ontario.

[Debbie Zimmerman]

Absolutely not.

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

For the record, if the previous Ontario government hasn't invested in infrastructure over the last 10 years, I don't want it to be left on the record that....

In Alberta alone in the last 10 years, some $3 billion in infrastructure has taken place on ring roads around Edmonton and Calgary. I would suggest that this is as much a provincial issue as it is a federal issue. If the previous provincial government in Ontario hasn't invested in road infrastructure, I don't want it to be left on the record that this hasn't been happening elsewhere in Canada.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Liepert.

I want to thank our witnesses very much for being here. We had a wonderful visit. We know all about the mid-peninsula and all of the requirements out there as well.

Mr. McGrath, thank you very much for taking the time to be with us today.

We will suspend for a short period of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

With us now, we have the Canadian Airports Council with Daniel-Robert Gooch, President. We also have Gabriolans Against Freighter Anchorages Society, represented by Chris Straw, President; and by video conference, which we were able to get together really quickly, we have Ken Veldman, Director of Public Affairs with the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

We will start with Mr. Gooch.