Mr. Speaker, this week is National Transportation Week. In a country as vast as Canada, the transportation network-with all its railways, highways, ports and airports-is very important.
Most of the largest Canadian port, the Port of Vancouver, is located in my riding of Vancouver East.
In addition to fast growth of its traffic in the movement of goods, the port of Vancouver has a very dynamic cruise industry which in 1994 delivered an estimated $140 million in benefits to the British Columbia economy and over 580,000 passengers.
Recently the Ballantyne pier, built in my riding in the twenties, reopened its terminal to help serve the cruise industry. This season the Ballantyne terminal will greet 64 of the 292 sailings calling on the port of Vancouver.
The terminal is now a state of the art facility for new cruise ships, boasting passenger loads of 2,000 to 3,000 people, thanks to new gangways that have the capability to be set up in a record seven minutes.
This is a unique way of protecting the past while serving the future. The Vancouver Port Corporation deserves to be congratulated for its vision.