Transport Committee on April 25th, 2022

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Mr. Dagenais.

At the Bloc Québécois, we advocate a great deal for the electrification of transportation, including trucks and all port infrastructure. That is especially true for my colleague Mario Beaulieu, whose riding La Pointe‑de‑l'Île is very close to the Montreal facilities. First, we find it less noisy and more environmentally friendly; secondly, it builds social license for these types of initiatives.

I'd like to know what's in the works for Contrecœur when it comes to electrification, but also how the Montreal Port Authority is doing in that respect, generally speaking. Do you have any electrification initiatives planned?

[Daniel Dagenais]

Thank you for your question.

With respect to Contrecœur, initially, when we first contacted all the partners to obtain authorizations, we committed right away to proceeding with electrification where it was technically possible. Therefore, measures to electrify handling equipment and ships in port will be implemented right off the bat. We've already committed to that.

On the Island of Montreal, which already has a framework built, the Port Authority and its private partners, the port's tenants, have made major investments.

We've invested heavily in the electrification of equipment, such as the gantry cranes in the yards for container delivery and the converted generators for refrigerated containers. In tandem with Hydro-Québec, we've modified electrical connections to the grid.

We've also put forward a pretty ambitious strategy. We've created a dock power supply network with over 25 connections, which has helped us prevent thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year while ships are docked at the Port of Montreal.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Pardon me for interrupting, Mr. Dagenais, but I want to be able to ask one last question.

Mr. Labbé, I was really taken aback by your answers. If your level of commitment to French is any indication of the commitment of the rest of CN's representatives, I feel we have every reason to be concerned. I didn't sense that you were concerned at all. If anything, I sensed indifference.

I'd like to give you the opportunity to prove me wrong.

[Sébastien Labbé]

Thank you for your comment and your question.

I do not see why you perceive indifference on my part. I care about CN's commitment and it will be taken into consideration.

So if you perceived indifference on my part, please know that was not my intention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Labbé.

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

Next, we have Mr. Bachrach, for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll pick up with Mr. Labbé. I want to talk a bit about dangerous goods. As you're aware, this is a big concern for communities in our region. Certainly, it impacts the economy of northwest B.C. these days. We've seen two liquid propane terminals developed on the west coast, and the B.C. government just greenlit a proposal for a third terminal. At a very high level, so I can understand this, would you say that the risk to communities along the rail corridor increases with increased volumes of dangerous goods being shipped through their communities?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I cannot answer this. I'm not sure. I think there are many mitigating factors to manage the risk.

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

Are you at all familiar with the transportation of dangerous goods by CN in northwest British Columbia?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I am, in general, yes.

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

Are you familiar with the specific trains and the specific route assessment that was done?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I'm not familiar with the assessment itself, but I'm aware that we're doing many of those assessments. I'm familiar with the route. I'm pretty confident this is the one to Prince Rupert, right?

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

That's right. There's been a dramatic increase in the transportation of dangerous goods along that rail corridor. Has there been any kind of regional risk assessment in response to concerns that communities have brought forward?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I cannot speak to specific concerns that were brought, or specific assessments that were done, but we do risk assessments multiple times on an ongoing basis, depending on the trade corridor or the commodity we're looking to move, which includes the lane itself, the train handling, and the railcar design.

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

I don't feel like I'm getting too far with that line of questioning, so I'm going to shift back to climate disclosure. I did note earlier the 2020 commitment by CN to the recommendations from the task force on financial disclosure of climate risk. The federal government is moving toward mandated disclosure of financial risks due to climate change. The task force recommendations are for voluntary disclosure.

Does CN support the federal government's direction on mandatory disclosure of climate risk?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I cannot comment on this specific topic. I would have to follow up internally.

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

Okay, could you come back to the committee—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Bachrach and Monsieur Labbé.

Next, once again, we have Ms. Gladu.

Ms. Gladu, you have five minutes. The floor is yours once again.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you, Chair, for the hat trick.

We'll go back to Monsieur Labbé. All the provinces have lifted all of their vaccine mandates pretty much, so we have 3.5 million unvaccinated Canadians intermingling with vaccinated Canadians everywhere, except on planes and trains. Would you support the lifting of the vaccine mandate for trains?

[Sébastien Labbé]

We're following the government mandate right now that is there so—

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Of course you are, but if they decided to drop it, would that help your business?

[Sébastien Labbé]

I don't believe there would be a dramatic change. There was indeed an impact of the vaccine mandate, but this is not the biggest impact on the supply chain right now.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Very good.

I want to talk a little bit about the labour impact in supply chain resiliency, because we did hear that there was a shortage of workers in many places, with mariners and perhaps with trained employees.

If I could start with Mr. Dagenais, at the port what are the labour things you are concerned about and what should the federal government do, if anything?

[Daniel Dagenais]

During COVID we obviously had issues filling all of our positions because of the sanitary and hygiene issues related to COVID and the isolation in some cases, but going forward we are definitely concerned about the availability of labour for the port authority itself, because we are in an environment that offers good working conditions but with very atypical schedules. Working weekends, nights and shifts is less and less attractive, so we're trying to make sure that we are also creating an environment that meets the expectation of new labourers and new workers who are requiring a more stable work/life balance. We are keeping time with that, yes.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Good.

Mr. Rodgers, can you comment on any of the labour concerns that you would have?

[Bruce Rodgers]

Our members are struggling to get personnel, good trained personnel. People seem to be departing the industry overall. It's a significant challenge to bring people into the workforce. We talked about the trucking shortage that is occurring, and it's not just in that area. Again, the supply chain is not necessarily a very attractive place to work at this point in time. There are significant challenges. We have talked about the supply chain being broken really for the past two years. It's just not an enjoyable place to be anymore.

We continue to find struggles really in all areas of the supply chain overall.