Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Barsalou-Duval and I are thinking along the same lines in that we like the spirit of the original amendment, which is to create some accountability so that we're not seeing these long delays in appointing board members. It's something that the port authorities expressed as a concern when they appeared before the committee, so perhaps there's a middle ground that can be found by extending the six months to 12 months and also including a clause that would require the boards of port authorities to give the minister notice that they intend to invoke this clause, which could—how shall we say it—create some incentive to accelerate the process if there are barriers that can be broken through by working more diligently on it or allocating more resources to finding board members. It would give a heads-up so it's not a surprise to the department.
There's a subamendment in front of committee members. I can read it. It would replace “six months” in subsection (1.2) with “12 months” and add the following after subsection (1.2): “(1.3) The board of directors of a port authority shall give notice to the Minister of its intention to make an appointment under subsection (1.2) at least 90 days before doing so.”