Evidence of meeting #4 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael Keenan  Deputy Minister, Department of Transport
Kelly Gillis  Deputy Minister, Infrastructure and Communities, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey

Thank you, Mr. Keenan.

Thank you, Mr. Baldinelli.

Mr. Sidhu.

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON

Mr. Chair, I would like to split my time with my colleague Mr. Bittle.

First, I'll thank you, Minister, for taking the time to be here today.

Minister, transportation is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and there's no doubt that zero-emission vehicles help fight climate change. In my riding of Brampton East, in the city of Brampton, we have quite a few constituents who commute one to two hours a day using their personal vehicles.

Minister, can you please tell us what your ministry is doing to make zero-emissions vehicles more affordable?

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

Thank you for the question.

You're right. Transportation accounts for about a quarter of all greenhouse gases, and half of that quarter is due to motor vehicles, light duty vehicles, which is cars. They definitely play a major role in contributing to greenhouse gases.

One thing we brought into place was the federal incentive last year. It was for $5,000 for an all-electric vehicle below a certain price, and $2,500 for a hybrid rechargeable, again under a certain price. There were also arrangements for people who lease cars, that kind of thing.

The program has been incredibly successful. As a result of that—I have the statistics here—between May 1, when it kicked in last year, and December 31, sales of all zero-emission vehicles in Canada were up 30%, compared with the same period last year.

In fact, we're spending the $300-million allocation of this program faster than we had anticipated, because of its popularity. It is beginning to have an effect, particularly in provinces like B.C. and Quebec, which also have provincial incentives.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Maninder Sidhu Liberal Brampton East, ON

Thank you.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey

Mr. Bittle.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON

Thank you so much.

I know there's some St. Lawrence Seaway land in Mr. Baldinelli's riding in Niagara-on-the-Lake. With regard to the supplementary estimates, could you talk about what properties we're talking about, to whom they were sold and what the proceeds will be used for with respect to those seaway lands?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

I am just getting that information out here.

There is a Treasury Board directive that exists for the sale of surplus real property, and there was this property in the St. Lawrence Seaway that was not required by the seaway. What happens is that it goes to Canada Lands, and then there's a sale process that happens.

Niagara-on-the-Lake and La Prairie, Quebec were two areas where excess land was being divested to the private sector. The properties in Niagara-on-the-Lake were identified as surplus to the operations of the seaway in 2013, along with a large number of properties in Quebec and Ontario. These properties were being leased to farmers, many of whom had been on these lands for at least 25 years. The department sought authority to direct sales of the properties in Niagara-on-the-Lake to the existing tenant farmers, and it has been completing these sales since 2017. These sales will conclude this fiscal year. They had been renting the land and they were given the option of buying it, so now they own it.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON

Thank you so much.

Can you explain Transport Canada's role in the deal we have heard about between CN and CP with respect to sharing the tracks during these blockades?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

There have been cases in the past where CN and CP have worked voluntarily together and co-operated. They've made deals because they are the two main lines. Sometimes, in certain parts of the country, if, for whatever reason, one part of one company's line is down because of natural disasters, typically, or things like that, they have come to arrangements to share the other company's line.

That's worked. It doesn't happen very often; they are competitors. In this particular instance, the government felt that it was important to speak to CP and see, because its operations between Montreal and Toronto had not been impacted by the blockades at Tyendinaga, which are on the CN line. To CP's credit, they were willing. They had some capacity to allow some CN trains to join onto their lines, and this helped to keep certain products moving, which was very good. We didn't want to publicize it, and they certainly didn't want to publicize it, but I think it gave us a little extra time.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON

Thank you.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Vance Badawey

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Bittle.

Mr. Doherty.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Minister, you've been tasked with implementing measures to strengthen transparency, accountability and efficiency at Canadian airports. Can you confirm with this committee that you have been consulting with airports?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

The answer is yes.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Can you confirm with this committee which airports you have been consulting with?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

No. We're looking particularly at seeing whether there are certain things we need to do with our airport authorities—I'm talking about the larger airports—because we really have not changed the model under which the Canadian airport authorities work, and there are some things they have asked for and that we're asking for. Transparency is one of those things, so that there's greater visibility with respect to some aspects of their operations.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Minister, small airports with low passenger volumes have a particularly tough time covering the costs of ongoing infrastructure, maintenance and upkeep. You're well aware of that. Your government has recently introduced new rules for travellers with disabilities and has said it will soon introduce new regulations on runway safety areas such as RESA.

Can you please share with this committee what plans you have to help small airports meet these new regulatory requirements and maintain their infrastructure?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

In some cases they are entitled to the ACAP funding. That is something that is extremely popular in this country. Typically, it's about $40 million a year.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

You and I both know there are airports that fall outside of that ACAP funding.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

Yes.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Airports repeatedly have come to your ministry to ask for further funding.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

Yes, that includes Prince George, and we have found a way to fund them...and others like Charlottetown and others that fall between the cracks.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

That's right.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

I would say that we found a good way to do this through the national trade corridors fund.

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Minister, Taiwan is an important transportation hub in Asia and should be included in the WHO and ICAO to fight against the coronavirus. The ICAO has yet to include Taiwan in its apparatus. This is unacceptable and detrimental to the global effort to contain the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak.

Will you support Taiwan's meaningful participation in ICAO?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC

On that one, I would refer you to Global Affairs.