Thank you, Chair and committee members, for the invitation to contribute to your study today.
My name is Ian Marr. I'm the president and CEO of the Nanaimo Port Authority.
The objective of supporting, diversifying and modernizing Quebec's and Canada's ports should consider the many touchpoints of ports—harbours, rail, roads and communities—and how every port can contribute to diversifying Canada's ability to find and support trade with new markets.
There is a need to diversify and fully utilize Canada's current port properties and maximize individual capacities, creating a resilient, diverse system supported by short-sea shipping, rail or road. There is major pressure on our current system with port backups, road and rail congestion, industrial land scarcity, climate events and labour uncertainty. Developing ports on the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes and the west coast outside current heavily urbanized regions would significantly increase capacity for containerized and non-containerized cargo.
Canada's objective of expanding trading markets requires consideration of where and how an infrastructure investment is made. Investment decisions should benefit exports, imports and communities, not only at ports but also along the internal trade routes I previously mentioned. Consideration should be given to the new trade patterns and to providing complementarity within our port frameworks. If growth and diversification are the objective, we can no longer rely on “the first to the line with the most money wins” when it comes to investment decisions.
The government should establish the capabilities, possibilities and strengths within its port system to build required infrastructure and create funding streams that allow it to meet the needs of new trading markets and a diversification strategy. Infrastructure funding should create capacity at different contact points along ocean, river and road networks. Funding must consider the benefits of reducing congestion and overall environmental impact while increasing the capacity and throughput of the system.
Ports require some regulatory and legislative changes to their current act, which has been largely unmodified for 27 years. Ports require flexibility through subsidiary capitalization review, allowing them to create partnerships that encourage third party investment and release the value of their balance sheets.
Modernization of ports requires integration of existing technologies and the development of new technologies to increase the capacity and security of our ports and waterways. Modernization should flow across the entire transportation system, not in isolation to any single component, to ensure fluidity and increased value to Canadian industry and consumers.
A key component of modernization integrates technology with education and development of the workforce. Labour must be engaged to achieve mutual long-term goals to maintain employment benefits in port regions and increase the reliability in our national port system.
Thank you for your time. I welcome any questions.