Mr. Speaker, as for the first part of the question about funding, I belive it would go like this: a consortium of highway builders makes a proposal to the government regarding sites identified by the government as sites to be funded. Instead of asking the government to pay to have the highway built and, therefore, own it, the consortium takes it upon itself to raise the
necessary funding. The consortium goes to the government and says: "Tell us what terms we can expect to operate under in the future-basically, how much will the rent be for the next 20, 30 or 40 years-and we will raise funds accordingly, to ensure completion of the highway".
From the government's point of view, this approach has the advantage of not costing a penny during the three to five years it takes to build it. The consortium will pay for that part of the project. It will certainly be paid back as part of long term financing, but this type of funding can help boost to some extent the economy or development in the industrial sector.
It has never been tried in Canada. In the past, there have been experiments in the United Kingdom, for example, and a similar project was carried out in the maritimes. Canada should have seven or eight of these sites to assess the benefits over a five- or ten-year period.
The second part of the question concerns shipping. The committee has undertaken a major review of the relationships between transport, trade and tourism. Because of the urgent need for action in that area, it has focused much more on highways than anything else.
Just the same, we have heard people from various sectors who had all sorts of suggestions to make. People involved in tourism have told us that, at present, the highway system in Canada does not promote the development of tourism across Canada versus the U.S. competition.
In Quebec for instance, we have been reminded of the fact that the federal government still has not done anything about casinos on cruise ships. The tourism industry and the shipping industry in Quebec have ben making representations for years to be able to operate casinos onboard cruise ships while on the St. Lawrence river. This would be a plus in terms of tourist attractions. The government has been dragging its feet on this issue for quite a while. Representations were made to that effect.
Another aspect of the consultation process concerns Bill C-44 regarding ports reform. Currently, communities along the river, and everywhere in Canada, are very concerned about what will happen to these ports. We were told that the ports would be turned over to the private sector and to local interests. What will be the conditions governing this transfer? Will the facilities be in such a condition that their service life will make them attractive when they are transferred? All this is not very clear.
Bill C-44 has been shelved. We wonder why the government is now delaying this legislation, after putting pressure to have it reviewed at report stage, last fall. Maybe the government realized, after seeing our proposed amendments, including on the status of Canada port authorities and on other issues, that its bill was not up to date and that some additional work was required.
The first thing that comes to mind about this tour is that, in the past, Quebec suffered a great prejudice because of the shared jurisdiction in the transport sector between the federal and provincial governments. Quebec has jurisdiction over highways and was able to take action in that area, but a large part of the province's budget was eaten away in the process.
This was done at the expense of the development of an integrated transport strategy. In Canada, no one has put in place an integrated strategy that would enable us to know when to rely on marine transportation, for example, or when to use trains, road carriers or air carriers. The result is that we are now faced with totally absurd situations that could have been avoided, had there been only one level of government involved in these areas.
This is the primary conclusion I come to after that tour. As the opposition's transport critic, I see a similarity between what is happening in this sector and in the manpower sector. Things will work only once the provinces have full jurisdiction over this sector. This is important because, as in other areas, we are stuck with duplication problems and with the fact that it is impossible, for a government that does not have full and sole responsibility, to develop strategies that would include all of these areas.
Therefore, the transport committee has more work to do. However, Quebecers will have to clearly express their will at the next election and say that, in this sector as in others, our province urgently needs to have full and sole jurisdiction, until sovereignty is achieved.