Transport Committee on May 30th, 2016

[Helena Borges]

I have the answer to your question concerning rail safety inspectors.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Yes.

[Helena Borges]

At the end of fiscal year 2015-2016, we had 135 rail inspectors. At the beginning of the year there were 122. Afterwards we hired 13 other people.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you all very much for that information.

Is the committee ready to deal with the supplementary estimates now? All right.

CANADIAN AIR TRANSPORT SECURITY AUTHORITY

Vote 1a—Operating and capital expenditures..........$142,272,546

(Vote 1a agreed to on division)

MARINE ATLANTIC INC.

Vote 1a—Payments to Marine Atlantic Inc...........$6,100,000

(Vote 1a agreed to on division)

With the consent of the committee I can group the following votes. Is the committee in favour of grouping the following votes?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

OFFICE OF INFRASTRUCTURE OF CANADA

Vote 1a—Operating expenditures..........$14,690,666

Vote 10a—Contributions..........$1,383,566,000

(Votes 1a and 10a agreed to on division)

TRANSPORT

Vote 1a—Operating expenditures..........$71,576,716

Vote 5a—Capital expenditures..........$24,106,745

Vote 15a—Grants and contributions—Transportation infrastructure..........$19,031,976

Vote 20a—Grants and contributions—Other..........$8,627,704

(Votes 1a, 5a, 15a and 20a agreed to on division)

VIA RAIL CANADA INC.

Vote 1a—Payments to VIA Rail Canada Inc...........$6,930,000

(Vote 1a agreed to on division)

Shall I report vote 1a under Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, vote 1a under Marine Atlantic Inc., votes 1a and 10a under the Office of Infrastructure of Canada, and votes 1a, 5a, 15a, and 20a under Transport, and vote 1a under VIA Rail Canada Inc. to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[An hon. member]

On division.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you all very much.

We will suspend for a couple of minutes. We have lots of committee business still to do. Thank you all very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We're reconvening our meeting. We have several items on our agenda here that we'd like to see if we can complete this afternoon.

We have 30 minutes left.

I'm going to turn to you, Mr. Badawey, for the motion that you have tabled.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I do have a motion that I presented to the committee:

1. That the Committee immediately adopt and the Chair present a report to the House of Commons recommending the following;

That, pursuant to subsection 15(1) of the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, the coming into force of subsections 5.1(2), 6(2), 7(2), 8(2), 9(2), 10(2), 11(2), and 12(2) of that Act on August 1, 2016, be postponed for a period of one year; and

2. That, prior to August 1, 2017, the Committee undertake a study on viable options to resolve the aforementioned issue on a longer-term or permanent basis, and that the findings of that Committee study....

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Badawey.

Is there any further discussion?

Ms. Duncan.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

First of all, I'm puzzled by the motion, because the minister has already committed to doing this. A number of us have already called for this to happen in the House. Why are we voting on a motion when the minister has already committed, we're hoping soon, that he's going to do this? I'm completely baffled by why this would be referred to our committee.

The second part, which is to do a study, may or may not make sense, depending on when it happens. The pulse and grain producers are deeply troubled by this. They want a long-term commitment. They also would wonder why it would come to this committee and not agriculture. I know that agriculture has also been looking at it. The issue is an agricultural issue, but it's an issue about their getting better access to markets to get the grain out in a timely way. These issues have been reviewed by the agriculture committee. One option that has been bandied about was a joint review by our two committees.

I'm puzzled by the first part of this motion. I don't understand why we would be calling for this when the minister has already committed publicly that he is going to do this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, what I'll do is give some clarification on the question for the member. In the second part of the motion, when I stated “and that the findings of that Committee study”, I'll be more definitive and add to that “be tabled in the House of Commons for consideration and action by the government.”

That is the answer to the member's question. We want this tabled immediately. The reason for the motion being presented today is to get it to the House of Commons for consideration and action by the government as soon as possible.

I'll repeat myself, and I do apologize for that, on point two—and this is for the folks taking the minutes—I state “and that the findings of that Committee study be tabled in the House of Commons for consideration and action by the government.”

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Ms. Block.

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

I want to make sure I understand the intent of this motion. The subsections you are referring to are the measures in the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act that are due to sunset on August 1.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

That's right.

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

What you would essentially be doing is extending these measures for one year.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Postponing them.

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

My understanding, as I read the act, is that section 15 also states:

unless, before that day, their coming into force is postponed by a resolution — whose text is established under subsection (2)

Is that what this is meant to do? Is this meant to be that resolution?

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

If I may, again, this is simply advice from the committee. It is not binding. This is advice from the committee to get it on the table in the House of Commons.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

This is the wording that would be required in order for that to happen.

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

Okay. Thank you.