If we were to vote down this clause, we would go back to the status quo that existed with regard to the selection of a chair, whereby the port authority boards themselves select a chair from within their ranks. If the chair and the vice-chair positions became vacant, they would simply reiterate that process and select another member from their ranks to serve as chair. That seemed to be working.
The challenge I have here is that we didn't hear any testimony that supported this clause in the bill. Perhaps the witnesses could....
We've referenced the ports modernization review before. I'm curious as to whether there were any participants in that review who called for this specific change to empower the minister to appoint the chairs of port authority boards. Certainly, in witness testimony that we heard before the committee, there were several witnesses who said they didn't like this idea, but we didn't hear from any who supported the government's direction on this.
I'm curious as to whether there's been any supporting testimony.