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?