Transport Committee on Nov. 9th, 2017

[André Lapointe]

I'm not sure, but we could give you an answer later.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. Aubin.

I want to thank our witnesses today. It's been very helpful. Thanks very much to all of you for the information. There were several things asked, and if you could report back through the clerk so that the committee has that information, we would appreciate it.

Thank you very much to all our witnesses.

Mr. Sikand.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I'm sorry, but do we have time for a question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Do you have one short question?

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I have a very short question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. We'll have one short question and a short answer.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Lapointe, you mentioned that there is funding for or that you're taking care of air pollution as well. I wanted a quick answer as to what initiatives you've taken to address air pollution.

[André Lapointe]

Thank you.

You can look at the main estimates under new funding. We have funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you look down in the list, you'll see that it's $349,000. That's for this year to start work on retrofits for heavy-duty vehicles. That work is ongoing. We will be working with the provinces and other departments in the federal system to address that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Again, thank you, witnesses. We are waiting for our next officials. You're are free to leave. We'll reset and refocus ourselves here.

Mr. Aubin, while we're waiting for witnesses to switch—I haven't suspended—do you wish to speak to your motion now, or shall we wait until 5:15?

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

We could do it now, if you want. I'll be brief.

In my opinion, the first hour of this meeting with the Department of Transport leaves us with more questions than answers. I think it would be quite appropriate for us to have the Minister of Transport and François Collins, director of National Operations and Civil Aviation at Transport Canada, appear to testify about Transport Canada's decision to transfer the responsibility for assessing pilot proficiency to airlines. That's what the motion says.

We see that many questions are still unanswered, and unfortunately we ran out of time while I still had questions. We are told that many countries are doing the same thing, but the article that Mr. Hardie mentioned and a few others that I have read suggest rather the opposite, and say that Canada seems to be doing a lot of work on this issue.

In all logic and, I would say, for the sake of continuity of the study on aviation safety that we have conducted, it seems to me that we owe it to ourselves to provide clear answers to the public following the matter and to all those who travel by plane. That's why I'm seeking the support of my colleagues so that we can devote a meeting to the Minister of Transport and to Mr. Collins in this regard.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Would you like us to vote on that now?

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

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay.

Is there any further discussion? Questions?

Ms. Block.

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

I want to state my support for Mr. Aubin's motion. There have been a number of concerns raised in regard to this issue from various stakeholders that I've had the opportunity to meet. I was interviewed on this issue. I would support him on this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Is there any further discussion?

Mr. Hardie.

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

I would note that we've just had an opportunity to ask questions. I did.

Mr. Aubin, you used some of your time. Ms. Block and others didn't. My guess is that we've actually received the information, the essential elements of the information that we needed. Whether or not we agree with it is another matter, but it may be an issue that we can take up in future studies, because these people will be back, that's for sure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

All right. All those in favour of Mr. Aubin's motion, please raise your hands. Opposed?

(Motion negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you.

We will continue with our witnesses in order not to lose too much time.

Minister Sohi, welcome. Thank you very much to you and to your officials. We have a vote at the end on our amendments, so I don't want to take time away from the committee's opportunity to ask you questions.

We will now continue with our study of supplementary estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.

I'm delighted to welcome the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, along with his officials: Ms. Kelly Gillis, deputy minister; Ms. Darlene Boileau, assistant deputy minister of corporate services and chief financial officer; and, Mr. Marc Fortin, assistant deputy minister of program operations.

We also have with us, from the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, Mr. André Juneau, chief operating officer, and Ms. Linda Hurdle, chief financial administrative officer.

Thanks very much to all of you for coming today.

Minister Sohi, the floor is yours for five minutes of opening remarks.

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for introducing my officials. I want to let you know that Marc Miller is also joining us here.

Thank you so much for inviting me to speak with you.

I have been invited to speak to you about Infrastructure Canada's supplementary estimates (B), which were tabled in the House of Commons on October 26. Through supplementary estimates (B), Infrastructure Canada is requesting a net increase of $113.1 million in funding.

The funding we've requested includes operating funding for Infrastructure Canada to manage and administer the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan; the re-profiling of operating and capital funds from 2016-17 to 2017-18 for the new Champlain Bridge and Gordie Howe International Bridge projects; and, a transfer of capital funds to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority for remediation activities associated with a Canadian property.

We're working with central agencies to reset the profiles of several programs, and this will result in moving funds from this year forward to future years to ensure that funds remain available for our partners as and and when they require them.

It is important for me to clarify that Infrastructure Canada's spending matches the pace at which our partners build their projects and submit claims to the department for reimbursement. Once projects are approved by Infrastructure Canada, our partners can begin work immediately.

The re-profiling of funds will ensure that funding is available in future years when it's needed by our project partners for already approved projects. We will also continue to work closely with them to move their priorities forward and provide the flexibility necessary to meet their requirements.

To support the needs of communities across Canada, I'm proud to say that Infrastructure Canada is the lead in delivering our government's historic investments in infrastructure, which will invest more than $180 billion in communities across the country.

We are working closely with other federal departments and in close partnership with the provinces, territories, municipalities, indigenous partners, and stakeholder organizations to make sure that our investments are responding to the needs of Canadians, while also supporting our government's overarching priorities. We want to support projects that will create long-term growth, improve the sustainability of our communities, and grow and support the middle class.

What do these investments mean for Canadians?

Over 800 older buses are being replaced with newer, more reliable, and more efficient vehicles. This is in addition to 835 new buses that have been ordered to expand existing transportation networks, offering up over 28,000 additional seats to commuters, as well as 772 public transit accessibility initiatives to help ensure people with mobility challenges are able to get where they need to go safely and efficiently, and 120 kilometres of new active transportation trails to support better integration with public transit networks.

As well, 3,817 new affordable homes have been built. We've also provided more than 115,000 families of low-income households with much-needed renovations and repairs, and over 2,275 small communities saw improvements to their water, waste-water, and stormwater management systems, leading to more modern and reliable services. We've also funded flood risk reduction projects in over 260 communities to better protect families, properties, and livelihoods.

We also made significant progress on two major projects: the Gordie Howe International Bridge and the new Champlain Bridge. I will let my colleagues from the WDBA speak more about the Gordie Howe International Bridge. For the new Champlain Bridge, we announced recently that we have introduced a series of measures to ensure we meet our December 2018 completion date, while also ensuring the existing bridge remains safe for travellers. My officials and I are happy to answer any questions the committee may have about these.

In conclusion, I will hand things over to my colleagues before we take your questions, but I want to first thank the committee for the opportunity to be here today to discuss our infrastructure plan. I'm very proud of the work that my department has been doing to build stronger, middle-class, sustainable, and inclusive communities for all of us to live in.

Thank you so much once again for having us here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Minister Sohi.

Mr. Juneau.

[André Juneau, Chief Operating Officer, Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for welcoming us here today.

First I should say that I'm the chief operating officer of the WDBA, and I'm accompanied, as you said, by the chief financial and administrative officer.

I want to talk first about the supplementary estimates that you have in front of you. Of the $58.9 million requested through these estimates, $38.7 million is re-profiled operating and capital funds from 2016-17 to 2017-18, and $20.2 million is a transfer from Infrastructure Canada for remediation of the Canadian land. The funding is aligned with our priorities of what we call “early works”, utility relocations on both sides of the border, property acquisitions in Michigan, and the ongoing delivery of the P3—public-private partnership—procurement process.

As the minister said, we are making real progress on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, with more than $350 million in ongoing works at the Canadian and U.S. project sites. These activities include construction of an access road, placement of fill to address soil conditions, construction of stormwater management ponds, and utility relocations. On the U.S. side, these activities include acquisition of properties, environmental site work, and utility relocations.

The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority is undertaking these preparatory activities on both sides of the Canada-US border now so that our project is ready for our eventual private-sector partner to begin construction as quickly as possible in 2018. I will come back to that.

Our partners at the Michigan Department of Transportation are responsible for US property acquisition and have been actively working with business owners and residents. A year ago, when WDBA last appeared before this committee, the Michigan Department of Transportation had approximately 50% of required property under their control. Today, they have 80%. The Michigan Department of Transportation is adhering to a detailed timeline that will see property available for our eventual private-sector partner when it is needed for construction. I will add that all required Canadian property has been acquired.

We are currently in the second stage of our two-stage procurement process to identify a private-sector partner to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Gordie Howe International Bridge project.

We have three highly qualified international proponent teams who are currently preparing their proposals in response to the detailed technical and financial requirements we have identified. Next year, we will complete our procurement process as these proposals will be submitted, we will undertake a fair and rigorous evaluation process, a preferred proponent will be named, and we will finalize negotiations. Our private-sector partner will be on-board in September 2018 and construction on the bridge will begin.

Consistent with best practices, our entire process is overseen by an independent fairness monitor who ensures transparency and fairness among the three proponents.

As part of all P3 procurement processes, proponents will submit detailed construction schedules and contract costs as part of their proposals. We look forward to the completion of the procurement process, when we'll be able to present the construction schedule, including the bridge opening date and the contract value of the winning proposal.

In doing all this work, we work daily with Infrastructure Canada, the Michigan governor's office, the Michigan Department of Transportation, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, and Canadian and U.S. border agencies. We meet regularly with the City of Windsor and the City of Detroit, elected officials, community leaders, business owners, and so on.

We try hard and we devote a lot of energy to listening to our stakeholders. It has been one of my priorities since becoming chief operating officer to meet a wide range of stakeholders and to demonstrate our commitment. In fact, on November 24, we will host our third annual public meeting in Windsor, and we're working on our annual public meeting on the U.S. side shortly thereafter.

As Minister Sohi said, the Government of Canada is committed to building the Gordie Howe International Bridge, and we think this is evidenced by the work we've accomplished so far. We are on track to deliver this priority project.

I thank the honourable members, through you, Madam Chair, for having us here today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Let's move on to our questions.

Mr. Lobb.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Madam Chair, I have a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I have Mr. Lobb first on the list. Would you like...?

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes, if you don't mind.