Thank you, Mr. Chair, and all honourable members of the committee.
First of all, allow me to recognize and thank each of you for your particular attention and focus on the support, diversification and modernization of Canada's port system. As you may be aware from my colleagues, who have made many presentations now, and the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, we've been diligently advocating for reform to the Canada Marine Act and, more recently, regulatory reforms without any necessary changes to the act. These things would provide Canada's national port system with the flexibility and the tools necessary to prosper and meet the full intent of the act, which is to contribute to the competitiveness, growth and prosperity of the Canadian economy.
I always begin by reminding the audience that Canada has many coasts. It has the east, the west and the north, but it also has an underutilized southern corridor, Canada's fourth coast: the St. Lawrence Seaway system, or more descriptively, the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System. Surrounded by two provinces and eight states, collectively, we make up the world's third-largest economy. However, we allow this corridor to languish at less than 50% capacity.
While it is now obvious to everyone that we must reduce our reliance on U.S. trade and diversify to include non-U.S. trade, I would submit that this southern corridor trade continues to be essential to the economies of our country. The shipments of grain, aggregates, salt, fuels, iron ore, steel, aluminum and so many more products are as essential to our mutual Great Lakes economies as containers are to the east and west coasts, and collaboration, not competition, is how it all works.
Windsor takes grain from Thunder Bay and ships protein meal to Quebec. Quebec ships steel and aluminum to Windsor. Windsor sends asphalt to HOPA. In short, we are a system, mutually dependent on the strength of each port, with each port contributing their strengths and serving their local economy. Strong economies across the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System mean a strong Canada.
Despite the current geopolitical climate, the U.S. ports are also an essential part of that system. I don't compete with Detroit, Monroe or Cleveland. However, their governments compete with me by providing a steady stream of funding and financial supports to encourage renewal and product diversification in their markets.
People are always surprised to learn that Canada's ports do not receive annual funding from the federal government. We are designed and tasked to be self-sufficient, with all the tools provided in the act. However, our system is aging, and our revenue model has peaked; the regulatory restrictions are limiting our growth options, and the Americans are moving forward with or, I fear, without us. Cleveland, Monroe, Detroit, Illinois and Duluth all provide short-sea shipping of containers to world markets for their industry and their local economies.
While Windsor is building, and Hamilton and Quebec City are ready, we have been hamstrung by regulatory barriers, the worst of which has been the inability of CBSA to provide the necessary support. This is in the face of a recently commissioned study by the Great Lakes ports, which overwhelmingly verified that in each and every port, the short-sea shipping of containers on the Great Lakes is faster and cheaper for industry. In fact, at Port Windsor, it would reduce shipping time by eight days and shave off $3,000 per container for industry. All CBSA costs would be recovered in under 90 days each year. The short-sea shipping of containers provides supply chain capacity, security and, most importantly, opportunity.
The last big idea on the Great Lakes was in 1959, when we opened the St. Lawrence Seaway. Perhaps after nearly 70 years, it's time to be bold once again.
Thank you very much giving me the honour and privilege of providing my comments and attending your committee today. I'll use my last few seconds to acknowledge and say hello to my MP in Port Windsor, Harb Gill.
