Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Montreal, Vera Danyluk, Chairperson of the Montreal Urban Community, Patrice Simard, President of the Metropolitan Montreal Chamber of Commerce, and Serge Ménard, ministre d'État à la métropole spoke out, on behalf of all Quebec industries dependent on marine shipping, against the government's intentions regarding new fee scales for aid to navigation.
Does the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans realize that he will be placing American Great Lakes ports at an advantage over Canadian and Quebec ports, since a ship taking the seaway en route to Chicago, for instance, will not be subject to the new fee scale, whereas one taking the same route but stopping at Montreal will have to bear the burden of the increased charges the minister proposes?