Transport Committee on March 21st, 2024

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I think indigenous communities were particularly surprised by your comments regarding federal investment in roads. That's because so many indigenous communities across the country have very urgent road transportation needs, especially in remote communities, whether they are communities in Nunavut's Kivalliq region or the four first nations in northern Manitoba that declared a state of emergency this past winter because of the state of their ice roads.

In northern B.C., the region that I represent, there are similar urgent road priorities. The Takla First Nation accesses the community of Takla Landing using a resource road whose maintenance is at the whim of the resource companies that happen to be operating in the region. They've expressed a desire to see federal investment in their transportation options.

On Highway 37 in northwest B.C., which accesses Tahltan territory, there are several producing mines that are contributing to your government's critical mineral strategy. Those communities have expressed a need to upgrade that highway. There have been over 500 accidents on that highway since 2018.

These are really urgent needs. I suppose my question to you is this: Do you not agree, particularly given the federal government's unique and important relationship with indigenous communities, that these kinds of projects should be priorities for federal investment?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The first thing I need to say is that my comments were specifically related to the project in Quebec that's called the troisième lien between Quebec and Lévis on the south shore. It was not a generic comment about federal investment in road infrastructure across the country. I gave a number of examples in my initial remarks of $1.6 billion of such investments that our government has made through Parks Canada since 2015.

Obviously, I'm not the Minister of Transportation and I'm not the Minister of Infrastructure. I think your question as to whether or not we should be doing this would be better posed to them, but I can tell you that since I made that comment, I have met with indigenous representatives from different provinces and territories. I met earlier this week with the leadership from the Assembly of First Nations.

I think people understand—many people, but perhaps not all—that my comments were specifically related to that project in Quebec.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you.

Not all residents in northern B.C. get around by road. There are many residents in coastal communities that depend on boats and float planes to get to where they need to go, and related to that, there's a serious problem with the network of weather stations that your department is responsible for maintaining.

In 2022, there was a float plane crash off the northern end of Vancouver Island that killed three people. The owner of the company that owned the float plane that was involved had been writing to the transport minister with concerns about the condition of the Sartine weather station, which hadn't been working for two years.

In the riding that I represent, Holland Rock is a weather station just off Prince Rupert, right at the mouth of the Skeena River. Every winter it seems to become non-operational, and mariners on the north coast have expressed serious concerns about their safety, because they can't get vital weather information that helps them make decisions about navigation.

I've raised these concerns repeatedly with your department. I'm in touch with your office about this issue. What I'd like today is for you to commit to making the investments necessary to ensure that there are zero outages in the weather station network on the B.C. coast this winter.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I was, in fact, close to your riding last summer, visiting communities where you do have to move by float plane or by boat. We are working very hard to ensure that if there's a problem with the weather station, there's enough redundancy in the system so that weather information can still be available, despite challenges with one particular station.

As you've rightly pointed out, we are in discussion about the particular weather station you referred to in your question. My commitment to you and the members of this committee is to do everything that we can to ensure that all of our weather stations are working. If they have a problem, in some cases they can be difficult to access in the wintertime, and our window of operations to fix them is more limited, so we are looking at more battery technologies and solar panels to make them more autonomous in case they are difficult to get to when there is a problem, but my commitment is to do everything we can to have the best-performing weather system in this country.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I appreciate that commitment, Minister.

It seems like the stations on the west coast are particularly challenging, because they're off grid. They rely on solar and wind power to continue their operation through the winter. I know your department has been working to maintain them over the years, but every single winter they go down. There are certain stations that are more challenging than others.

It seems that what is needed is a really clear direction from the minister's office with sufficient resources to ensure that we have zero outages. It's unacceptable that we have any outages in these critical weather stations that are providing safety information for mariners and aviation operators.

Can you make the commitment that you're going to do everything required to ensure that there are zero outages this coming winter?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

We are doing everything we can to ensure the reliability of that network with the resources we have.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I think the point is that we might need more resources.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Unfortunately, I'm not the finance minister. I'm the environment and climate change minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bachrach, and thank you, Minister.

Mrs. Vien, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, Minister. Welcome to the committee.

I sincerely think you'd have us believe that you've been inducted into the club of the misquoted and that it's all the media's fault. I don't agree with your reading of the situation. All of Quebec read the statement you made to an audience of public transit supporters on February 12 last. I think you clearly stated your intention to stop investing in roads and, while you were at it, also to avoid investing a cent in construction of the third link.

I don't know whether you realize it, but the people of Les Etchemins, Bellechasse, Lévis, Montmagny, Lotbinière, Beauce, Portneuf and elsewhere viewed your statements as a slap in the face. I'd like to remind you that the Quebec government has engaged CDPQ Infra to analyze overall mobility in the Communauté métropolitaine de Québec, including the third link.

The third link should be viewed as a highway link. It isn't a whimsical notion, Minister. To deny that is to ignore the reality of our communities. It's irresponsible to announce that you plan to stop investing in our roads when you're aware of the reality of rural areas, where motor vehicles are a necessity, not an option. I think your view of this matter is dogmatic and based on a single model, the urban model.

I'm going to help you understand the reality I live in.

Minister, can you tell me how many kilometres one has to travel from Saint-Cyprien in the extreme south of my riding, near the U.S. border, to undergo cancer treatment at the hospital in Lévis, in the extreme north?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

First, I want to say I've never blamed The Gazette's journalist Michelle Lalonde, for whom I have considerable respect. I didn't say I had been misquoted. You heard me, and I'm going to repeat it: I should have been clearer in that statement and should have said I was referring to the third link.

I'm very familiar with the reality of the regions. I was born in La Tuque and go back there from time to time. I've spent much of my life—

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

I've been on vacation in La Tuque; so I know where it is. I know the town, but I asked you if you know the distance in kilometres between Saint-Cyprien and the hospital in Lévis.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mrs. Vien, I let you ask your question without interrupting you. Please allow me to answer it.

As I said, I am very familiar with the reality of the regions since I'm from La Tuque.

Your party's position on the third link is somewhat hard to follow because you've taken a stand on the third link, but we still need to know what third link we're talking about. The latest version of the third link, which the Quebec government presented, was entirely based on public transit. Is that the project you support?

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Minister, I asked you a very clear question. The Quebec government makes its own decisions, and it has decided to reopen the issue.

What is the distance in kilometres between Saint-Cyprien and the hospital in Lévis? Do you know, yes or no?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I can calculate it—

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Since you don't know it, I'm going to tell you: 106 kilometres. It takes an hour and a half to get to the hospital.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The third link—

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

You don't get there by bicycle or on foot. You have to drive there.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Is the third link—

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Mr. Chair, can the minister tell me—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Iacono, you have the floor.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you.

Once again, I want to hear the questions, but I also want to hear the answers. We have to allow the other person time to finish speaking so the interpreters can do their job. Some people on both sides rely on the interpretation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We're going to allow the members to ask questions and the minister to answer them.

Go ahead, Mrs. Vien.

[Dominique Vien, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

Minister, can you tell me how many of the 30 municipalities in my riding don't have access to public transit?