Transport Committee on May 16th, 2019

[Gaétan Boivin]

Yes, that I know well. I've been sailing there for many years.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Being in the business at one time myself, as a ship chandler, I recognize some of the challenges that happen on the water, and having to integrate on shore and how much the industry is reliant on that.

Again, I have to congratulate you. You have done a great job.

[Gaétan Boivin]

Thank you very much.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

I wish you all the best in the future.

I understand that this government has provided you with $132 million to proceed with some work. What was some of the work that you did?

[Gaétan Boivin]

Actually, out of the $132 million, $50 million came directly from the port. About $20 million came from both federal and provincial governments, and about $50 million from the private sector. It's money well invested for the federal government, and even the Province of Quebec. It really gave us the impulse to go forward with that project.

With that money, we consider that the Port of Trois-Rivières is in good condition. It is productive, and we are well equipped to do the mission that the law requires us to do.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Moving forward, there's a need for some more infrastructure work. You're looking for some work on docks 21, 22, as well as 23.

How much are you looking for to complete some of that work?

[Gaétan Boivin]

That's a good question.

Last year, the Port of Trois-Rivières grew 47%. With the new docks that we built, we were expecting that kind of cargo in five years' time. We've had it in one year, so we're full again. They go through Trois-Rivières because the productivity is good, the tariff is good. With regard to our course for 2020, we were aiming to do that. Now we're back to the same problem.

What is interesting is that we're not asking for money to rebuild the infrastructure. We're asking for money for a new dock to be able to sustain the growth that we expect we'll have. We're looking at 1.5 million metric tons that we think we could probably proceed with in the next two to three years after the new docks are built.

To answer your question, it's a project of $65 million plus private investment of about $40 million, so that's about $100 million. We're asking the federal government for $33 million, and the port is putting in $34 million to $36 million.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

With your leveraging—and I hear from the economic development, the airport.... Are you integrating a lot of that multimodal servicing among road, rail, water and air?

[Gaétan Boivin]

Not only that, but we have integrated our development plan with the city. We did that in 2010. We're sitting with the city, and doing our planning together. You will find what is related to the port in the planning of the city, and what is related to the city in the planning of the port. We're really working closely, particularly with the economic development arm of the city of Trois-Rivières.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Does the port actually run the water activity as well as the land activity? If you have someone, for example, who wants to lease, rent or own land along the port, do you manage that, as well as the docking and water?

[Gaétan Boivin]

Yes.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

You manage all of it?

[Gaétan Boivin]

Yes, we manage all of it.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

Question two is for Québec Port Authority. To you, as well, congratulations. Well done. You are really bringing a lot of product in there. You're bursting at the seams right now, and you're looking at future growth, I'm sure.

You mentioned the fluidity, in terms of moving a lot of products on the seaway system—down the river and, of course, through the Great Lakes. How are you doing that right now?

I'll preface my question by saying this. I understand that a lot of times, it's costing more money to throw it in a truck, which is not environmentally friendly, or on a train, whereas there might be an opportunity to keep it on the water. However, with the Panamaxes, it's difficult to come to the seaway. How are you doing it now, and how would you prefer to do it?

[Alain Sans Cartier]

At the port of Quebec, we're a transshipment port, so the classic movement of our intermodality is ship to ship. We're bringing in big ships and then some smaller ships—lakers—that go out of the St. Lawrence Seaway and through the Great Lakes. That's the basic model of the port.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

You mentioned that you needed new money to renovate. Instead of holding product on your dock and warehousing—I'll use the Dell example—is there an opportunity to actually put that product on a ship and get it en route, while it's being delivered to its final port?

[Alain Sans Cartier]

Could you repeat your question?

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Instead of warehousing a lot of the product that comes in from overseas, and then putting it on a ship—a laker—to go through the system, is there an opportunity for that product to go directly onto a ship? The ship is actually a warehouse, and then it goes en route, and can actually get to its final destination.

[Alain Sans Cartier]

The time on the wharf is very short. It depends on the industry, though. Let's say nickel came from up north in Quebec, to Quebec City, and then is put on a railway heading for Sudbury. It goes back, and this material stays a very short time. It goes back to Quebec City, and then to Norway. It depends on the type of product.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, sir.

We will move on to Mr. Aubin.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to each and every one of you for being here with us this morning. This is really informative.

Mr. Côté, I'll start by talking about this fourth cornerstone of transportation, the airport.

Trois-Rivières showed leadership and built the infrastructure it needed to attract the industry. We are now at a crossroads. There was of course the nearly $4 million that the City announced for a new terminal building. There is a very clear vision here, namely to ensure continuing development and to expand, from Trois-Rivières, into not only Canadian airports, but also international flights.

What kind of support are you getting from Transport Canada, which has not designated an airport in years, when the ultimate goal is precisely to have a designated airport, an airport with screening services?

The Conservatives and the Liberals said that if we wanted them, all we had to do was pay for them and there would be no problem. However, we know that that business model is not profitable. Do we have any assurance that once the new terminal is built, it will be in line with Transport Canada's wishes?

[Jean Côté]

No. We must first build the new terminal and then Transport Canada will inspect it and make recommendations, or it will designate the airport for CATSA services.

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

You are telling me that once the terminal has been built, Transport Canada could tell us that we did not build it properly and that we will not be given the certificate.

[Jean Côté]

Yes, exactly.

We have already had preliminary plans drawn up, which I wanted to submit to Transport Canada before starting on the plans and specifications, just so we could verify if the area was large enough and so forth. It refused. Transport Canada waits until the terminal has been built and then inspects it.

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

So, we could provide security services at our own expense, but we do not have the specifications to know what should be built.