Evidence of meeting #82 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 moratorium.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
We have to defer that question. I don't know the exact number, but we have three terminals in the province of Quebec, and we have one in Hamilton, which is really the Great Lakes.
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
It's liquid bulk. It's petroleum products and chemicals.
Liberal
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
No, it's refined products. We do not handle crude in Canada.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
When you're going to pick up a load here in Canada, are you coming in empty?
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
It's our customers who do the business. We are a storage company, and our customers do the business. Sometimes it's more economical, of course, to come in with a full ship and then off-load, load another cargo, and take it out, but that's not always how it happens.
I would say a big part is coming in empty, loading here, and going out, or the other way around.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
It goes without saying that it would be advantageous to come in full and leave full, and—
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
That would be advantageous.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
—then, therefore, for the one day that it would otherwise take to get into the areas where you can go, where there's no moratorium, the economic impact would be lessened.
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
The moratorium will not really impact the kind of thing you referred to right now.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
With respect to moving forward and with the moratorium put in place.... This can go to you, Marina, with respect to your business plan. Has there been dialogue with respect to a strategy to bypass the moratorium area and utilize the ports that are available to you? Has there been dialogue on what you're going to do next?
Manager, Regulatory and Stakeholder Relations, Canada, Royal Vopak
The simple answer is no. Right now we're focused on LPG terminals, so at this point in time the moratorium would not impact our business. For us it's mostly from the perspective of restricting or stopping trade along major routes. As a global company, that is the major significance of the moratorium at this point in time.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
What I'm really interested in.... As you may know, there was a review of the Canada Transportation Act, and from that came a strong recommendation by Mr. Emerson to look at integrating not only our national but our international trade corridors—our distribution logistics—with our partners as a government. Also, within industry—with you, and you within your own industries—we need to look at taking full advantage of integrating distribution logistics with all methods of transportation: road, rail, water, and even air. Has there been any dialogue with respect to that in your industry, and of course not only in your industry with respect to transportation, but also with the cargo you're carrying?
Manager, Regulatory and Stakeholder Relations, Canada, Royal Vopak
Not that I'm aware of, at this point in time, but I could definitely circle back and see if anybody else within Vopak has.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
I would appreciate that, because it would add to the process we're embarking on in the short term with trade corridors, not only looking at what's happening nationally within our country but also internationally, opening up the broader trade corridors, which would make it easier for you to do business in Canada.
Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Time flies.
My last question is with respect to your safety record, or the safety record of those who are transporting your goods. Do you find that the people you're dealing with have a good safety record, and therefore have the proper protocols put in place to deal with an occurrence if there is one?
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
Without hesitation, I say yes. I am very confident, and we, as terminals, are being audited many times a year by our customers and by the government. We also audit ourselves and we audit our customers, and I'm proud to say that we don't want to do business with substandard companies.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Wonderful.
My last comment is to thank you. Thank you for coming out today. Not only do we look forward to your testimony today, but also to your partnership in the future as it relates to moving our trade around in a more expeditious manner and a more efficient manner, utilizing the services and partners such as yourselves and the others you're working with on a daily basis. I thank you for that.
Operations Manager, Province of Quebec, Vopak Terminals of Canada, Royal Vopak
Thank you very much. We look forward to working together as well.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—University, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair...Madam Chair. It's been a while. I haven't been on committee for three years...two years.
Conservative
Bradley Trost Conservative Saskatoon—University, SK
Thank you very much.
As I was noting, even though I'm a veteran member of Parliament, I haven't been sitting on a committee for a few years. I am here as a substitute for a regular member, so I'm slowly learning about this bill, and I have to say, from what I've learned today, that the real impact of this bill would be on some shipments of slack wax and not much more, because unless I've got this really wrong, unless there's a northern gateway project or a pipeline built, there are not really any significant shipments in the area that are going to be impacted.
I'll direct this to the gentleman from Prince Rupert, and if anyone else wants to answer, please do.
Am I the only one who's looking at this and thinking the practical impacts of this bill really say this is a solution in search of a problem? There doesn't seem to be anything being banned except maybe potentially slack wax, which I don't think is a major environmental problem. Spills of slack wax just aren't huge.
Am I missing something? If there's no pipeline built, why are we so worried about this legislation? Could anyone answer that question for me? Does the gentleman from Prince Rupert want to respond?
