Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You are correct. I did submit a subamendment. I just want to give some reasons.
I'm sure all members recognize that port authorities operate under letters patent that govern a lot of their allowable activities. If you look to this section in the Canada Marine Act, you'll see that paragraphs 28(2)(a) and 28(2)(b) both reference the letters patent.
Mr. Chairman, if we're proposing to create a new class of allowable port activities, like joint ventures, I think they should also be specified within the letters patent for the port authorities, as are all other activities. This would help us to be consistent and to make sure there's appropriate oversight over these entities.
I know that the member's previous related amendments all made reference to the letters patent, so I'd like to propose a subamendment here that inserts that specific language, just to be consistent. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, after adding “(1.1) Section 28 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2)”, the key part is the first part:
(2.1) To the extent authorized in each participating port authority's letters patent,
It goes on:
two or more port authorities may jointly, through a corporation, partnership, joint venture, association or other entity whose shares or other ownership interests are all held by port authorities, engage in the activities referred to in subsection (2).