Transport Committee on Feb. 17th, 2022

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be careful to watch for the coloured paper.

Let me do as others have done and talk a little about some strategic transportation assets that are important to my constituency and my region. I want to refer to the supply chain task force that was established following the summit. The minister spoke to that.

In my region of Hamilton, Ontario, we have the largest dedicated cargo airport in the country and one of the busiest ports on all of the Great Lakes. It's the ninth or 10th largest city in the country. From what I understand from conversations with people at the city as well as the airport and others, there is no direct representation of Hamilton on the task force. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[Serge Bijimine]

We haven't established a task force yet.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Okay. I would encourage some representation, then, because of it being the largest dedicated cargo airport in the country. We've got Cargojet. Amazon just opened a facility there at the end of January. DHL, built a year ago, has surpassed what it thought it would achieve in 15 years, so it's well ahead and on its way to establishing a mini hub for its North American and global distribution chain. I would certainly encourage that. Thank you for that.

Let me move on, then. As well, I spoke to the Hamilton port authority and they raised a couple of points. I know my colleague from Niagara Centre on this committee also talked a bit about the importance of Great Lakes shipping. Short sea shipping is being used increasingly to move containers. Obviously, there's an environmental benefit to that, which is great.

I have two points, then. One is that as the consideration is being made for national trade corridor funding, Hamilton port—again, a very busy port—is appreciative of what has happened so far, but there's encouragement to do more.

Second, though, and perhaps more importantly, the market forces have outpaced the capacity of the regulatory processes. I know this may not be directly an issue for Transport Canada, although it may be indirectly, but the CBSA is not able to handle the increase in container traffic that's happening, and there's a bit of a backlog. Can that be addressed?

[Arun Thangaraj]

As you said, the Hamilton port has received funding through the national trade corridors fund to expand a pier and for some modernization. It was about $23 million in funding. It is a critical port and, as you said, the region is growing economically, so again, this is the announcement of funding available and a call for proposals for initiatives to assist ports in relieving supply chain congestion.

I'll turn to Serge for the remainder of that question.

[Serge Bijimine]

Sure. I just want to go back to the point around the supply chain task force. The supply chain task force has not been established yet, but as the minister also said, the national supply chain summit was the first event in a series of events. There will be regional events, and we will ensure that consideration is given to having folks from the Hamilton airport present at those regional events.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Thank you. I don't see the coloured paper yet, so I'll go on.

I know that the allocation to regional airports has already been mentioned in a question from my colleague, but I want to amplify that importance. Certainly, throughout the past couple of years, because of the pandemic, the situation has been one that is more reactionary to events.

The good news now is that international travel is being reinstated across the country, but there needs to be more collaboration going forward as to the preplan, the plan for the future. That includes removing barriers. That includes investment in airport infrastructure.

I know, for example, that at the Hamilton airport, they're at full capacity right now. They need the co-operation that has been identified by others in terms of labour issues, shortages and all of these things, so that we can actually seize those opportunities going forward, because there is that potential.

Perhaps you could comment on what that might look like in the next few years.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Could we have a quick comment, please?

[Serge Bijimine]

Thanks. We will take it into consideration.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

All right. That was quick.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much.

Next we have five minutes for Mr. Iacono.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome, Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy Minister.

Anyone who watched the Super Bowl this weekend was struck by all the commercials featuring electric vehicles. The world is changing rapidly.

Can you provide an update on our government's efforts to encourage the adoption of zero-emission vehicles?

[Arun Thangaraj]

To date, we have provided subsidies. There's a program to provide subsidies of $5,000 for zero-emission light-duty vehicles. We have provided subsidies for approximately 130,000 vehicles over the last couple of years. There have also been significant investments in charging infrastructure through our colleagues at Natural Resources Canada.

Serge, do you have anything to add to that?

[Serge Bijimine]

Yes, certainly.

To date, the government has invested $660 million in the small businesses and 130,000 Canadians who have taken advantage of the incentives to purchase a zero-emission vehicle.

This has resulted in a cumulative reduction of five megatonnes of greenhouse gases, or GHGs, which is quite significant when you remember that the transportation sector currently generates a quarter of Canada's GHG emissions.

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

What did you hear from industry and others at the National Supply Chain Summit?

What are the next steps being considered?

[Serge Bijimine]

It was a very good meeting, involving six ministers, 80 CEOs of companies and financial leaders, and it focused on three main themes.

The first theme was investing in our physical infrastructure with climate change in mind.

The second theme was investment in digital infrastructure. There are many opportunities to increase capacity in supply chains by choosing more digital options.

The third theme was finding paths to federal, provincial, municipal and business collaboration.

In terms of next steps, we are in the process of organizing regional sessions to be held in late February and early March to hear from more stakeholders. Then we will be putting together a working group of experts who can address these topics in more depth and advise us on what can be done in Canada to address the supply chain emergency.

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

Thank you.

Can you comment on how the global container shortage is affecting the supply chain?

Are there any aspects of the situation that are unique to Canada?

Are you also looking at what is happening in other countries, such as the United States, for example?

[Serge Bijimine]

Yes, we are.

This is a global situation. What's happening in the United States is also happening in Canada. There is a shortage of containers. They come from Asia, then they are turned around quickly. We are looking at this problem very closely.

Today, the Competition Bureau issued a press release saying that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States will be joining forces to study this more closely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Iacono.

Our next round of questioning begins with Ms. Lantsman.

Ms. Lantsman, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the officials for joining us.

Given how serious the conversation is right now in the House with debating emergency powers legislation, I want to know from departmental officials whether you ever considered using the minister's authority in the International Bridges and Tunnels Act.

He has emergency powers in that act. It's in section 17, and I want to know if there was ever a discussion at the top levels to enact the minister's responsibility in that act in order to clear the bridges.

[Arun Thangaraj]

As part of our analysis of what the response ought to be to the situation, especially the blockade, all acts and legislation, and powers, regulatory and otherwise, were looked at prior to the decision being made.

With respect to the International Bridges and Tunnels Act, there are specific limitations on that with respect to the minister's authority. It has to be a threat to the bridge itself, the structure. Therefore, what could be done with respect to that authority and the blockade was limited.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Is it your view that you couldn't use the minister's emergency authority in the International Bridges and Tunnels Act to have any kind of evacuation or any kind of clearance?

I just want to know what was discussed at the departmental level.

[Arun Thangaraj]

We looked at what the authorities were in that legislation and the situations where those authorities would apply. Based on our analysis, there was nothing in those authorities that could be done. The blockage was not on the bridge itself; it was on the access ways. Therefore, the authority provided under the International Bridges and Tunnels Act would not have been effective.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thanks.

I want to speak to you about travel restrictions. It partly is a conversation to give some in the industry, who I think have been unfairly targeted with ad hoc restrictions, a bit of comfort in trying to understand whether there is any plan going forward to have the department look at travel restrictions in a more cohesive way. I don't think we can have a repeat of omicron measures in travel and tourism.

I want to know from the department whether there's any plan to manage travel restrictions that is not on an ad hoc basis. I want to know if there is any data you are able to present to the committee that speaks to how you came to the decision, let's say, to keep PCR tests much longer than our allies or our partners. I want to know who's making those decisions and if it's the department itself.

[Arun Thangaraj]

Let me say first that there is data available. I know, for example, that we will look, by mode, at the importation rates and the test positivity rates. That is one of the factors, as well as the public health situation, as I said before, in Canada and internationally.

Let me turn it over to Aaron to provide a little more detail on this.

[Aaron McCrorie]

Throughout the pandemic, we've been working very closely with both our partners within government, primarily at the Public Health Agency of Canada, which provides the health advice that drives the decisions and measures that have been in place at the border and domestically, and the Canada Border Services Agency, which implements those measures. We've been working equally closely with the industry.

It has been a challenge. The COVID pandemic has evolved rapidly at times, in ways we didn't expect. Last summer, for example, we started to back off from some of the measures. We got rid of temperature checks, for example. We started to open up some of the airports that had been closed to international travel.

When omicron arose, as the minister suggested, we took actions to ensure the health of Canadians, and they had an impact on the aviation industry to be sure. We took measures and, based on the guidance we're getting, we're easing those measures off. We're opening up remaining airports and adjusting the testing regime based on the guidance we're getting from the Public Health Agency of Canada.