I thank Mr. Bachrach for his comments.
There's no question that at this committee, going back to 2015, we established two interim reports with respect to transportation logistic strategies. Both interim reports led to the same recommendations for different parts of the country.
We do recognize that now we have a St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation review and a ports modernization review, as well as recommendations attached to both of those. Of course, the supply chain task force has come back with its recommendations as well.
Mr. Bachrach is correct in stating that we are trying to ensure that we not only recognize those strategic regional hubs within our supply chain—those out in the western area of the country being very strategic—but also recognize how important it is to integrate our supply chains with our neighbours across the border in the United States.
Of course, with that comes two things. One is the integrated capital investments that are going to be made to handle the capacities expected within those regional hubs and the supply chains. The second is to involve ourselves in a full dialogue with the communities they impact. Whether it be positive or negative, the bottom line is that dialogue has to continue.
I want to thank and congratulate Mr. Bachrach and his colleagues for doing that and of course for coming back with this amendment, which articulates some of the concerns of the residents of that area of the country. Yes, we have to balance that out with respect to ensuring that, while this activity is advantageous within these strategic trade corridors in terms of promoting our economy nationally and binationally, we also have to be mindful of some of the impacts it has on the residents in those areas.
I want to thank Mr. Bachrach for that and state that we will be supporting the amendment.