Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a few comments regarding Bill C-44 as it pertains to Port Alberni, which is in my riding. It is one of the six recognized ports on the west coast.
I met with the harbour commission about a month ago. It had some major concerns regarding the legislation. The difficulty, it would appear, is that this legislation will treat Vancouver, which is a huge port, similar to a smaller port such as Port Alberni.
Alberni has an operating budget of $3 million to $4 million. It has operated with a very small profit for the last eight years. In other words, it is not a burden. It is on a user pay system. It is working. The Port Alberni Harbour Commission is working well. It serves the community. It does not cost the taxpayers any money. However, this legislation will change all that.
I have to return to the analogy of treating a huge port like Vancouver similarly to a smaller port such as Alberni. It is the the pantyhose solution, one size fits all. In this case it will not work.
It would appear that the problem goes back to when the legislation was drawn up. It was drawn up by bureaucrats before there was consultation. Yes, a committee will do a cross Canada tour, but the bureaucrats have now got themselves into a position where they are backed up against a wall, defending legislation
which will not fly. Why do we have to have this kind of situation where the bureaucrats draw up the legislation before there is nationwide consultation to get the information which is required to write good legislation?
I hope when the committee travels across Canada that the representations from the different ports and boards will be listened to.
That brings up another point. It is really odd in the Canadian system that a committee is not tied to a minister. A committee can come up with some wonderful recommendations, good legislation, which the minister can then totally ignore if he or she chooses to do so. That is wrong.
I hope that the committee listens well, makes good recommendations and furthermore that the minister and the bureaucracy also listen and come up with legislation that fits all the ports across this country and does the job that we require.