Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This amendment is quite frankly completely against the spirit of this bill and what I think we're trying to accomplish on anchorages at port. We've heard that lengthy anchorages are posing challenges to the supply chain and challenges for communities. I think it's in everyone's best interest for vessels to move as quickly as possible in and out of ports. I want to make that very clear. That does require management, and we want to be clear on our expectations of the ports to some extent even managing those expectations.
We know that management will take a combination of measures to accomplish. That means we need to have the tools in the tool box. This amendment is trying to get rid of an important one, which is the ability to impose fees. For example, this removes the notion of fees, which means fees couldn't be imposed through regulation. I think we can see how this would be an extremely important tool when it comes to making traffic at ports more efficient. Fees can provide an incentive for all port users to move more efficiently.
Also, Mr. Chair, if we are requiring ports to do more to better manage traffic, it's reasonable that they be able to charge fees to do so. Ultimately, this amendment goes against the intent of better supply chain efficiency within this bill, and that's why we will be voting against it.