Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for Joliette for his interest in the matter. I am appalled to see that the transportation sector does not seem to be very popular. Frankly, it is Thursday afternoon, and many members are in a hurry to leave. Unfortunately, it means that a member of my own party has to ask
the questions. That is a pity. This is a very important subject, and I thank the hon. member for Joliette for his question.
Before the Liberals took office, in the marine sector, under the Conservative government, if we compare spending on marine construction in the maritimes and Quebec, the ratio was 13 to 1, with 1 for Quebec. Of course there was Hibernia. But since the Liberals came to power, not a red cent has been spent by the federal government or the Department of Transport on marine construction. Not one penny.
There is a connection with the defence industry, because marine construction is marine transportation, but also includes ships ordered by the Department of National Defence. One example is the Preserver , a supply ship. Two shipyards submitted tenders: Lévis and Halifax. There was a difference, but since this was for repairs, the difference was in the Halifax shipyard's favour.
We asked to see the tenders. We asked the minister and the government but never received a reply, as usual. We used the Access of Information Act and found that 85 per cent of the 435 pages submitted by the bidder had been blacked out, as we saw in the Somalia affair. There was no way to find out the hourly rate or salary. This is an important point.
When we are talking about refitting a ship, we know that it always costs at least twice as much as expected. There are always some surprises. There is a clause called "open and expect". This clause is variable, and it is very important to know the salary, the hourly rate for overtime and how it will be done. So there was no way to get that information.
The only way to get the information, allowing of course for the lag after the election, is that once the job is finished, the public accounts committee headed by the hon. member for Beauport-Montmorency-Orléans, will be able to have access, but only once the invoices are in, which means in about a year and a half or two years.
Until then, there is a total blackout on any information concerning the Preserver . Other than that, there is nothing on ship construction.
In the area of transportation, let us add the changes to the Coast Guard. This is a plan the government has found to divide its strengths. The Coast Guard, once the responsibility of the Minister of Transport, now reports to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
In the St. Lawrence Seaway, they want to start charging for ice breaking, and they already charge for navigational aids. Step one: $20 million more. These charges apply to ships that put in at Canadian ports. But a ship that travelled all the way down the St. Lawrence Seaway to the United States without ever putting in at a Canadian port would not pay a cent for those same services. Yet we know that the Seaway is operating at a deficit. Because the ship does not put in at either a Quebec port or one on the Great Lakes, it would not pay a cent.
The government's inertia on shipping is scandalous, yet this may be the most economical means of moving freight. What is missing at the moment in Canada is an integrated view of all means of transportation, a national view of transportation.