Transport Committee on May 21st, 2024

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Ms. Gillis, you mentioned the disaster mitigation fund. That's extremely important to the rural coastal communities where I live in Newfoundland and Labrador, in Bonavista—Burin—Trinity. We have many small fishing communities and towns that are vulnerable, and exposed coastlines that have been ravaged by some of these storms, so that's extremely important going forward.

I'd also like you to share with the committee how programs like the green and inclusive community buildings program are benefiting Canadians across the country. Maybe you have a specific investment that is particularly impactful that you might want to share with the committee.

[Kelly Gillis]

With regard to the importance of community services and community hubs, whether it's providing health services or areas where people and kids can gather and play sports, especially in our rural communities where it often is a focal point for the community, that particular program has been able to help a number of communities across the country with those investments.

I don't have an example right at hand right now, but we have a map on our website that showcases all of the investments within that particular program with a lot of details of what the overall project values are, what our funding is and the status of each of the projects.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Thank you very much for that.

As a former member of the FCM in four previous years, I really appreciate the focus our government has put on developing infrastructure funds to support municipalities and communities across the entire country, because it's crucially important that we maintain the infrastructure in these many small rural communities.

Just last week, for example, I was able to announce a couple of projects under the housing accelerator fund for the towns of New-Wes-Valley and Port Rexton. It was for a total of around $1.4 million to allow these towns to put in the infrastructure and do the planning and strategizing needed for future housing developments in their communities.

These are small rural communities. I know that sometimes it gets frustrating, because these are small communities, but these are the communities that provided the leadership. They are municipalities that filled out the applications, and they were successful in this case. I truly appreciate that, because there are 256 small communities in the riding that I represent. To have a couple of these acknowledged, as small as they are, is truly appreciated.

Again, on these infrastructure programs, I'd encourage you to keep the focus on that as we go forward, particularly for small rural communities.

Mr. Chair, I'm not sure if there's time left, but I just wanted to make those comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We appreciate those comments, Mr. Rogers. You even got a “Hear, hear!” from the room. I wanted to share that with you, sir.

Unfortunately, the time is up.

Colleagues, I do see that the bells are ringing for a vote. Before we adjourn, colleagues, we do have some quick housekeeping.

First, do I have unanimous consent to vote on the main estimates in one motion?

I see no objection, so we will proceed.

CANADIAN AIR TRANSPORT SECURITY AUTHORITY

Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$1,194,373,969

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION AGENCY

Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$50,218,650

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$1,010,983,880

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$248,381,570

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$2,115,729,155

(Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division)

MARINE ATLANTIC INC.

Vote 1—Payments to the corporation..........$159,010,958

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

OFFICE OF INFRASTRUCTURE OF CANADA

Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$257,762,976

Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$18,774,480

Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$5,541,224,138

(Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division)

THE FEDERAL BRIDGE CORPORATION LIMITED

Vote 1—Payments to the corporation..........$17,923,000

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

THE JACQUES-CARTIER AND CHAMPLAIN BRIDGES INC.

Vote 1—Payments to the corporation..........$262,413,187

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

VIA HFR – VIA TGF INC.

Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$45,254,000

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

VIA RAIL CANADA INC.

Vote 1—Payments to the corporation..........$1,159,349,066

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

WINDSOR-DETROIT BRIDGE AUTHORITY

Vote 1—Payments to the authority..........$951,657,774

(Vote 1 agreed to on division)

Thank you, colleagues.

The meeting is adjourned.