Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I sent a motion to the clerk this morning. Perhaps he could distribute it to the committee members. It reflects discussions that I've had with many people. I assume that everything should be fine.
It reads as follows:
That the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities establish an agenda structured as follows: a. The committee immediately requests that the Chair and the clerk, in accordance with the motion adopted on August 1, 2025, make public all documents received from the organizations listed. These documents shall be published on the committee's website and distributed in a press release through the Press Gallery Secretariat: 1. Office of the Prime Minister 2. Privy Council Office 3. Canada Infrastructure Bank 4. The Department of Housing, including the office of the responsible minister 5. The Department of Transport, including the office of the responsible minister b. As part of its study on the Canada Infrastructure Bank's financing of new vessels for BC Ferries, the committee will hold three additional meetings and call the following witnesses: 1. Davie Shipyard 2. Ocean Group 3. Seaspan Shipyards 4. Irving Shipbuilding 5. BC Ferry & Marine Workers' Union 6. BC Building Trades 7. BC Federation of Labour 8. The Shipyard General Workers' Federation 9. The United Steelworkers 10. The Canadian Steel Producers Association 11. Former Minister of Transport Chrystia Freeland 12. The Minister of Public Safety, as well as officials responsible for reviewing national security issues related to the contract between BC Ferries and the Chinese shipyard Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyard c. Upon completion of its study on the Canada Infrastructure Bank's financing of new vessels for British Columbia Ferries, the committee will immediately undertake a new study on the phenomenon of “Driver Inc.”, comprising at least six meetings. The committee will summon the Minister of Transport, the Secretary of State for Labour and the Secretary of State for Revenue to testify in this study for a minimum of one hour each. Other witnesses, chosen by the parties, will also be invited to appear. Finally, the committee will submit its conclusions and recommendations to the House.
The motion covers the main points of our discussion. It proposes first to make public the documents that we received before completing the BC Ferries study. However, the motion doesn't address the issue of BC Ferries documents, which may be discussed later, after this motion is adopted.
The next step is to conduct a study on the issue of “Driver Inc.” I believe that this is a serious issue in the trucking industry right now. The truckers are facing this crisis. I wrote to Minister MacKinnon about this issue this week. I believe that people are very interested in this matter. They want Parliament to take it seriously and they want their elected officials to commit to resolving the situation. I feel strongly about all this.