Evidence of meeting #51 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 chair.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Yazmine Laroche  Associate Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada
Marc Fortin  Assistant Deputy Minister, Program Operations, Office of Infrastructure of Canada
Michael Cautillo  President and Chief Executive Officer, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority
Claude Lachance  Senior Director, Administration, Jacques-Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated
Michael Keenan  Deputy Minister, Department of Transport
Shawn Leamon  Vice-President of Finance, Marine Atlantic Inc.
Paul Griffin  Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Marine Atlantic Inc.
Andie Andreou  Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Mike Saunders  Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Deloranda Munro  Director General, Financial Operations, Administrative Services and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
Natalie Kinloch  Chief Financial and Operating Officer, The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited
Scott Streiner  Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Transportation Agency
Jean-François Poirier  Director, Financial Services and Asset Management, and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Canadian Transportation Agency
Danielle Boisvert  Corporate Controller, VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Jacques Fauteux  Director, Government and Community Relations, VIA Rail Canada Inc.

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Hélène Laverdière NDP Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Thank you very much.

That is all for me, Madam Chair.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Thank you very much.

Mr. Hardie.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll be splitting my time with Mr. Fraser.

The work that's been done by your department and your minister has made a huge difference in British Columbia. Just last week Minister Sohi was there and made 140 communities very happy by finally meeting some long-standing needs on water and waste water. I had the opportunity to make an announcement on behalf of the City of White Rock, which had been waiting over 100 years to get its water system into shape. There were reasons for that, but we were finally able to move forward on that.

Certainly, looking forward to the advent of transit funding in metro Vancouver for both the Broadway line and Surrey rapid transit, I can go home now, as it's very good news.

But I want to talk a bit more about the gas tax fund because....

I see lights going off here. Is that a vote being called?

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

You can continue. We'll try and get this round done.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Madam Chair, there is a vote and we really have to leave to go and vote.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

If that's the desire.

Mr. Fraser.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Seeing that we're just down the hallway, I believe that the committee, with unanimous consent, can agree to continue. We have, I think, a half hour here. We may as well make use of it. We're not two minutes away from the chamber. I propose that the committee continue in the absence of an objection.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Does the clerk know if it is a half-hour bell? Just one moment.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Madam Chair, it is a thirty-minute bell. We can let the witness answer the question and then go to vote. That is what we usually do.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

It's 30 minutes. It takes us about two and a half minutes, Mr. Berthold, to go next door to where we would have to vote, and given the fact that we have the representatives here, I think we should try to get to as many as we can. We could go as close as possible to the time. So if we could stay for another 20 minutes, I think we could get a considerable amount of work done.

Continue please, Mr. Hardie.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC

Madam Chair, on a point of order.

When the members are called to the House, you absolutely need unanimous consent to continue. You should at least put the question to us before deciding on how to proceed. That would be very much appreciated by all of the committee members.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Well, in order to be respectful of the many people who are here to speak to us as well, I think it's an important thing. Is there unanimous consent to continue for an additional 20 minutes?

There is not unanimous consent. That means....

Yes?

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK

I would propose 10 minutes, but not another 20.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

We'll continue for another 10 minutes. Is there unanimous consent to continue for 10 more minutes?

There is.

Okay. Please continue.

11:30 a.m.

Liberal

Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

I wanted to talk about the gas tax fund. It was introduced by Mr. Martin a number of years ago. I was with the Metro Vancouver transportation authority, and boy, that was really good news for us.

Please speak a bit more about transferring excess commitments into the gas tax fund. This is new, is it not? In the old days, would those funds, if unused, have lapsed back to the government?

11:30 a.m.

Associate Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

Yazmine Laroche

In the old days, we would try to work with our colleagues in the provinces and territories to get the money spent from those programs, but as we saw over the last few years, we had a bit of a backlog of money. In fact, we had $837 million from what we call our “legacy programs”, which had not been allocated. The government said that if we couldn't get that money committed by a certain date, it would indeed be transferred into the gas tax program.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC

All right. I will stop you there, because I'd like to give Mr. Fraser a moment here as well.

Thank you.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Thank you, Mr. Hardie, and thank you to our witnesses for being here with us.

When I went through the budget, I saw there was a somewhat surprising but welcome emphasis on issues impacting gender and women.

I notice as well with respect to infrastructure the enormous investments being made, particularly in housing and child care facilities. Could you describe to me the process of developing budgetary items and whether there's a gender-based analysis conducted in the context of the policy formation and delivery?

11:35 a.m.

Associate Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

Yazmine Laroche

Yes, in developing any new policy or program, one of the things we look at is how it's going to play out for a range of groups, including a gender-based analysis to better understand what the needs are. For example, one of the things that we're looking at right now with respect to infrastructure is the representation of women in trades. Women are not hugely represented in the construction and building trades, and we're very interested in seeing what we can do through our investments to encourage greater participation by women in trades.

We also look at, for example, public transit. How is it going to connect disadvantaged communities? How is it going to help people get more easily to and from school, or to and from work? It's definitely one of the considerations as the policies are being developed.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

That's excellent.

I want to piggyback on one of the earlier comments by my colleague, Mr. Badawey, with respect to asset management. I represent an area that's defined by small towns and rural communities. With the influx of infrastructure spending that they've seen from last year's budget and expect to see in phase two, can you describe how the asset management investment made through FCM will potentially help those smaller communities ensure that they're not biting off more than they can chew?

11:35 a.m.

Associate Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

Yazmine Laroche

Thank you again. The program that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is running will supply expertise to communities rather than force them to hire a full-time staffer, which is difficult when you're small and don't have a lot of resources. They will be able to tap into existing consultants and people who already have a certain amount of expertise.

My understanding is that they'll also be sharing best practices that have been developed already by some municipalities. This is again a way of sharing information and best practices so that communities have a better opportunity to determine how they want to use the money.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

Finally, before I run out of time, let me turn to a question asked at the outset of this committee meeting with respect to accounting practices and the way funds are allocated versus the way they're spent.

In my community, for example, some of the phase one infrastructure is under way. The community of Plymouth has new pipes being put in the ground today. It's entirely possible from your explanation that projects that are under construction may not actually have the money spent, simply because of the typical accounting practices whereby the province submits a claim.

Is that an accurate description?

11:35 a.m.

Associate Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

Yazmine Laroche

That is a very accurate description.

It is a little bit frustrating for us at times that we can't necessarily tell you that x number of projects are under way until we get reports back from the provinces and territories, and we can't pay the money out until we get the claims. Also, they have to wait for the municipalities to submit, and then they will submit. We seem to be in a cycle such that we're slightly out of phase every year.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS

And this is the ordinary process that—?

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Mr. Fraser, your time is up.