Transport Committee on Feb. 17th, 2022

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

That's good. I just wanted to make sure you guys were following up on that.

I see in the mandate letter that ports modernization is on the list. I did just want to put in a plug for the Sombra ferry dock, which got crushed, as you remember, by the Coast Guard ship and still is not in place. We've lost a border crossing. We've lost $4 million of economic activity on either side and $4 million of revenue for the CBSA, so don't forget the Sombra ferry when you do your ports modernization.

In my last bit of remaining time, I want to talk about airports. We also lost our airport service in Sarnia. Many rural communities across the country are in a similar state. Can you describe what the department is intending to do about those concerns?

[Arun Thangaraj]

Again, as the minister said, the recovery of that sector is critically important to us. I think yesterday's announcement that all airports will be open for international travel is key to that.

As part of the recovery effort, overall there was substantial recovery in the sector. I think it was $11 billion in total. As part of that, $570 million was made available for critical infrastructure and capital programs, and there were additional funds of almost $200 million to support regional air service.

Let me turn to Serge Bijimine, who is our assistant deputy minister of policy, to provide some additional information.

[Serge Bijimine, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of Transport]

I hope everyone can hear me just fine. It's my first time at TRAN. I've heard that TRAN is made up of very nice people.

Just to pick up on what Arun was saying, I think you hit the nail on the head. There are also the regional air transportation initiative of $200 million and the remote air services program at $174 million, so there's quite a lot of money provided to regional airports to ensure that when the recovery takes place their connectivity can remain as per before COVID.

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

Thank you very much for all your answers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Ms. Gladu.

Mr. Chahal, the floor is yours. You have five minutes.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for joining us today.

I represent Calgary Skyview. A good movement and logistics sector is extremely critical to my constituency. We also have the Calgary International Airport, as well as the CP rail line and the CN spur line on the eastern edge of my constituency.

The government has supported—and I thank you on behalf of Calgary Skyview constituents—the $50-million investment in the Airport Trail expansion project, which was announced, built and opened over a few years. It has been a great help in dealing with many of the bottlenecks we previously faced.

Can you tell me a little more and speak to how this fund has helped reduce and prevent supply chain bottlenecks in Calgary and across the country?

[Arun Thangaraj]

Absolutely. I'll talk a bit about Calgary and other projects.

As the minister said, supply chains are critical, key to the mandate letter commitment and a priority for the department and for the government. One thing we've done, through our national trade corridors fund, is ensure a very strategic and critical investment that leverages private sector investment as well to reduce barriers to trade.

As you said, the Airport Trail project was approved for $50 million in funding, and one thing we have seen is an extension between 36 Street and 60 Street. I think the remainder will be open soon, as well as other connections to the Ring Road.

Part of what we look for in any of these trade corridor funds is increasing the fluidity of movement from port to destination and to the trade market. As we continue to do those things, we have a call for proposals out. There was also an announcement with the supply chain summit of $50 million for port investments, which will come along fairly quickly to unblock some of the most immediate and pressing concerns we're seeing with the supply chain at ports.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

As mentioned, we see the importance of the trucking industry and the workers from my constituency. I can't think about all the challenges our truckers have faced with the Coutts border issues over the last number of weeks. I'm happy to hear that the highway has been reopened and is open to traffic now.

I've spoken to many truckers from my constituency, like Kulbir and Ashok, who were stuck at the border and couldn't get through with their trucks. They had full loads and couldn't get back to stock grocery store shelves to provide essential supplies to our communities. They couldn't get back home to their families after weeks of being away working and travelling to bring these goods and services to our cities.

Can you talk about the importance of crossings such as the Coutts border crossing to Canada and the North American supply chain, and the impact on Calgary and southern Alberta that we've seen with the illegal blockades?

[Arun Thangaraj]

Absolutely, and I'll turn to Serge for the specific economic data with respect to Coutts.

The minister referred to the economics: $390 million in trade per day at the Windsor bridge. We've seen supply chain partners, especially in the auto industry, express concern over disruptions, and we've seen the impact throughout the Canadian economy.

One thing we are doing is looking at their impact at each point of critical infrastructure, at crossings but also at airports. We are maintaining consultations with stakeholders in the rail industry and others just to ensure that we have a good handle on any disruptions that could imperil or cause an inefficiency to the supply chain.

I'll turn to Serge to speak specifically about the impact on Coutts.

[Serge Bijimine]

Certainly. I have some quick numbers. At the Ambassador Bridge, the six days of blockades basically stopped almost $400 million in trade flow each day, so we're looking at about $2.4 billion. In Coutts, the 18 days stopped $48 million on a daily basis, so around $864 million total. In Emerson, the six days stopped $73 million in trade on a daily basis, which amounted to $438 million. At Pacific, the three days stopped $81 million per day, for $243 million total, so we're looking at about $3.9 billion in trade lost or deferred.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will yield my time to the member for Mirabel, Mr. Garon.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I thank my colleague for giving up his time.

I am speaking today as the member for Mirabel. I want to talk to you about a project called Synergie Mirabel, which you are probably familiar with, because the minister had committed to moving it forward within his department.

This is a project for a seniors' residence, a medium-sized residence, which would accommodate seniors in Sainte-Scholastique, an area devastated by the expropriations that gave rise to Mirabel Airport, which has hurt the region economically.

This project has the support of the mayor, councillors and the MNA, among others. The sub-project is funded and the zoning is ready. Everything is ready in this project. Unfortunately, there is still a no‑build easement on the airport land, which prevents construction.

The minister has the power to allow construction. Our experts tell us that there is no danger to airport security. Moreover, this is an area that is not under the authority of Aéroports de Montréal.

We recently received a categorical and unexplained refusal from the minister.

I would like to know what specifically was done within the department to lead to this refusal.

I am putting the question to anyone who can answer it.

[Arun Thangaraj]

I have a bit of detail. I can turn to colleagues for that. There's been substantial work on this proposed facility and work on some of the previous regulations restricting heights of buildings that were in place at the time the airport was in use. Given that the airport is not in use, those are being relooked at in the context of the proposed building.

Again, I can assure you that officials are working very diligently on—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I apologize for interrupting you, but I don't have much time.

I understand, but this is an urgent situation. The project has been going on for a long time. Our citizens have been misled by officials and referred to Aéroports de Montréal, which has no management mandate on this land.

How is it that the department misled our people on this? Why were they referred to Aéroports de Montréal?

[Arun Thangaraj]

Let me turn to Aaron.

Do you have any other details on this?

[Aaron McCrorie]

I'm sorry, Arun, I don't.

We have a role when it comes to, say, airport zoning regulations, which might speak to the height of the buildings. I don't think we don't have a regulatory role from a safety and security point of view. I apologize.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you.

How does it feel at Transport Canada to know that we have to get on our knees, to beg the federal government to let us do local development in this former expropriated area, for such a unique project that is so central to the community?

Doesn't this create unease at Transport Canada?

[Arun Thangaraj]

As part of the process, we've worked with various groups to return land back to original owners and use it for other purposes, given that it's surplus to requirements.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I just want to bring your attention to the fact that the area is already built up and the construction of this building would be rather in line with what we see around there. For us, this decision is very difficult to understand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Garon, and welcome to our committee.

Mr. Bachrach, the floor is yours. You have two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the officials for joining us today.

I want to start out where I left off with the minister, which was this discussion of bus transportation in Canada in the wake of Greyhound cancelling all of its services in the country.

The minister seems quite adamant that bus transportation is a provincial jurisdiction. What we're talking about here is an interconnected, national bus transportation system that allows Canadians to get across the country. I note that right now, a number of people across the country are circulating a petition asking for the minister to lead this vision of a truly interconnected national passenger bus system.

I want to stick to policy here and not politics, because I know that's your realm. This matter of jurisdiction is a very interesting one. I want to read, from the Transport Canada website, a page entitled “Governance of the Canadian Transportation System”. This is a page on your department's website. It states:

The roles of the federal and provincial governments are defined in the Constitution Act of 1867. In general, the federal government has the constitutional authority to oversee international and inter-provincial transportation, while the provincial governments are responsible for intra-provincial transportation.

Now, assuming that website is still valid and the Constitution is the Constitution, if the federal government were to take up the call of these people who have put forward this petition and involved themselves in the development of an interconnected, truly national passenger bus transportation system, would that not fall within federal jurisdiction?

[Serge Bijimine]

We'll have to look at it a bit more. Our understanding is it would still have an intra-provincial element that would fall under provinces. What you've raised is an interesting angle and something we've been talking about with the provinces for the last six months or so.

There is another meeting, as the minister said, that will take place next week on this specific issue and others. The hope is that at the end of the meeting, there will be some additional optionalities and a potential way forward and things we could look at.

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

If I understand the chair's hand signals and coloured piece of paper, my time is up. It does fly by. I'm not sure I got an answer to the question, but I appreciate the information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Bachrach. Those two-and-a-half-minute sessions go by quite quickly.

Next we have Mr. Muys.

The floor is yours. You have five minutes.