Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This one is sort of near and dear to my heart, since, during my 25 years of public service I have had to deal with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. I have had very little to actually act upon, because we had no representation on that board and we were, therefore, at their mercy with regard to a lot of the decisions that were being made, which weren't always in the best interests of the jurisdiction of which it was part. This amendment, Mr. Chairman, would delete the current provision enabling greater municipal representation on the boards. I would advocate for the opposite—that in areas or jurisdictions that do have boards, they would in fact have more.
That goes to my earlier comment and I guess to the theme of a lot of what we're discussing today and a lot of amendments the NDP and Mr. Bachrach have brought forward, because, let's face it, a lot of what he has brought forward was with respect to the best interests of the area he represents. The same could be said for Ms. Murray once again, and the same could be said for Ms. May once again, because they have those best interests in mind, and of course municipal representation on these boards would have the same.
That being said, Mr. Chairman, the purpose of this bill is to make ports work for Canadians and to better integrate them into the communities they represent and are here to serve. I don't think we should try to remove local representation or to discourage that within the ports. I think we should encourage more local representation, because at the end of the day there are interests within ports, and I understand that. I buy into the business interests that they have and that they're going to make decisions based on, but doing that can't be with collateral damage. It can't be working at cross-purposes with the jurisdictions they belong to and are a part of. That being said, there are also residual benefits, when it comes to the development of the economy, that the municipalities may have to add to and/or strengthen.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman, we will be voting against this. We would only encourage more municipal representation on these boards of the ports within the jurisdictions that municipalities are a part of and therefore greater returns with respect to the expectations of those great municipalities.