Madam Speaker, I rise in support of Bill C-22, an act respecting certain agreements concerning the redevelopment and operation of terminals 1 and 2 at Lester B. Pearson International Airport.
This is the bill to cancel the agreements made by the previous government for the operation of terminals 1 and 2 at Pearson airport. As my colleague, the member for London East, made clear a few moments ago, it is time we close the book on this ill-conceived project so that we can get on with the important work of planning Pearson's future.
I support the bill for a number of reasons because it puts an end to agreements contrary to the public interest reached through what have been described charitably as a flawed process. The legislation enables the government to get on with planning the future of Pearson airport and air transportation and that future is too important to be tied up in procedural knots.
Most of all, the bill should be supported because it clears the decks for the serious work of rebuilding Canada's transportation system, including our air transportation network which has Pearson as its hub.
One of the government's first priorities is to secure Canada's economic future, a task in which transportation plays a key role. There is no question that the cost of moving goods and people is a major factor in our nation's economic health. For Canada it is a daily challenge.
The growth and prosperity of the country have always depended on transportation. This was true before Confederation and it is true today. It is even truer today; a fast, reliable, low cost transportation system is vital to Canada's prosperity. It is the life support system of the country's exports and a critical factor in our competitiveness. It is transportation which keeps us together as a nation.
Air travel plays a particularly important role in binding the country together. It is how we travel when we go home for the holidays, when we take a vacation, when we seek out new business. Pearson is the hub of air transportation in Canada, our largest airport, one of North America's busiest gateways. One-third of all air travellers in Canada pass through Lester B. Pearson International Airport. Twenty-one million people passing through on their way to visit friends and family make business connections or even take their first steps on Canadian soil.
As Mr. Nixon said in his report to the Prime Minister, Pearson is a critical national gateway and a hub service to travellers, families and shippers. It cannot be duplicated by any other facility in the area, indeed in the province or in the country.
However Pearson is more than a transportation hub. It is also an economic generator for southern Ontario. The airport generates employment for 57,000 people directly and indirectly, including 14,000 people who work on site, and these jobs generate almost $2 billion a year in personal income. Add to that the almost $4 billion a year in direct revenue for local businesses and tourism and the $633 million in taxes from airport activity that go to various governmental jurisdictions. That gives us some idea of the airport's economic contribution to southern Ontario, the greater Toronto area, and all of Canada.
When we consider its economic and social importance to the region, the provinces and the country we see that Pearson is far more than a transportation facility. It is one of the most important public assets in our economy, an airport which serves the entire region, Ontario and all of Canada.
It is incredible to me that the previous government would have planned to sign away this vital asset in the heat of an election campaign without financial prequalification and constraining airport development in the entire region.
As Mr. Nixon concluded, this was an inadequate contract, arrived at in a flawed process and under the shadow of possible political manipulation. This deal was contrary to public good.
Being against the Pearson deal is not the same as being against renewal of our transportation system; far from it. As the Minister of Transport said in his response to the budget, the government is fully committed to helping Canadians build a stronger economy. An essential part of this effort is renewing Canada's infrastructure and that includes our transportation system. This renewal will contribute to long term economic growth by enabling Canadians to transact their business and move their goods quickly, efficiently and at competitive cost.
The government is committed to improving transportation effectiveness, but we must avoid simplified solutions that stem from a political agenda rather than clear eyed planning. We must avoid sacrificing the interests of the nation as a whole to serve a narrow, ideologically based vision.
That is why the government is developing a national transportation policy, a framework to allow us to retool our facilities and services to meet current and future needs.
To meet these needs we need to develop an integrated transportation system. To get maximum benefits from transportation we have to focus on the entire system, not on its parts, its many parts. The transition may be difficult, especially for aspects or facets of our struggling transportation industry but it must be done.
We must also encourage and stimulate competition. Government can do this by providing the regulatory framework, incentives, and infrastructure the private sector needs to deliver transportation services competitively and safely.
The government intends to pursue a pragmatic mix of modal integration, innovation and realism. Transport Canada is reviewing all its policies and programs. This review is intended to address the challenges and pressures facing Canada's transportation sector through a comprehensive, coherent strategy of reform.
Being against the flawed Pearson deal does not mean being against private sector participation in what were once viewed as traditional government activities.
The government does not believe that it has to own and operate a system in order to achieve its public policy goals, but government does have as role to play as a facilitator, as a catalyst, setting goals, providing direction, monitoring performance, making sure the job gets done fairly and effectively.
Yes, the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that Canada has the national transportation system it needs and we intend to live up to that responsibility. We see no reason why the private sector should not be invited to do what it does best. The government believes that commercialisation is an attractive option, one that brings business discipline to the provision of services that have traditionally been delivered by government.
However commercialisation does not necessarily mean outright privatization. It can take many forms, ranging from the contracting out of services, public-private partnerships, non-profit entities, special operating agencies, crown corporations.
Regardless of what form it takes, what is essential is a business like approach to the provision of services, an approach that is more efficient, more responsive and less dependent on the Canadian taxpayer.
This will result in better capital planning, access to private financing, faster approval, easier introduction of new technologies and more user and client input. For example, the government sees great potential for commercializing the air navigation system. The International Civil Aviation Organization cites a clear trend toward the establishment of autonomous authorities to own and operate AMS facilities around the world.
Commercialization in these and many other areas of government activity can bring major savings to taxpayers and better service to clients. Any move to commercialization must always maintain Canada's high transportation standards. Cancelling this deal is not an attack on the private sector. It is an attack on what is a flawed, suspect deal contrary to the public interest.
Our action in regard to this transaction does not rule out future involvement by the private sector in some of the activities now undertaken by government. We will look at every opportunity to collaborate with the private sector to provide transportation services to Canadians.
The private sector has a role to play in airport operations. Non-profit private sector management groups now have responsibility for five of Canada's major airports. We must take the necessary action to terminate the ill-conceived terminals 1 and 2 deal and allow the government to move forward with its plans for Pearson.
Under the proposed legislation the government may make a payment to developers, but this will not include lost profits or any fees paid for lobbying. The Minister of Industry said when he introduced the bill: "We publicly asked the previous government and the company not to conclude this highly controversial deal during the election campaign. They chose to proceed anyway".
The legislation does not stop or hinder any negotiations or compensation. It simply sets the necessary limit on how long this process should go on, how long negotiations might block resolution of this matter.
The government prefers a negotiated settlement. However once this legislation is passed and proclaimed the government and the developers will have 30 days to come to an agreement. After that there will be no further discussion and no additional compensation. After all, the government has been negotiating with Pearson Development Corporation on behalf of T1 T2 Limited Partnership since last December when the Prime Minister announced that the government would cancel the agreements.
I remind the House that the legislation is required to finalize the cancellation of this contract because the original agreement negotiated by the previous government did not include a cancellation clause.
The transport minister has said decisions affecting airport expansion projects are linked directly to decisions on the airport's management structure. These decisions cannot be made as long as the previous agreements are in place. That means nothing can move forward until we have cancelled this agreement which should not have been made in the first place. Our decisions with respect to Pearson can no longer be held hostage to those agreements.
One result would be that there would be no new construction this year on terminal 1 and terminal 2 development or runway expansion projects at Pearson. I am sure we would all agree that it is in the best interest of the people of southern Ontario and the country in general to move as quickly as possible to develop a new administrative structure for the airport so that we can move ahead in making the critical decisions to maintain Pearson as a vital economic asset for the entire country.
The time to act is now. We can no longer allow this to proceed. The passage of the legislation will allow the development of Canada's air transportation hub to proceed in the public interest unhindered by yesterday's mistakes. We must proceed now.