Madam Speaker, I appreciate that question. I think the hon. member recognizes that we share a problem, one which many of us share.
I do not have an immediate solution. We have to look at when there are government facilities, facilities licensed by or registered with the federal government such as airports and ports, there has to be some recognition that they have a huge impact, and at times a negative impact, on our communities.
Great revenues accrue from these types of facilities and we all benefit from these types of facilities. Certainly I benefit from the airport in Toronto. I live in Vancouver but I travel through there. I use it and I am a beneficiary. But in saying that, we have to recognize that it does have an impact on local people. The quality of their lives is impacted.
In the situation I described the impact has just come into play, and has magnified in the last two years by the development of the new container service at Vancouver port's Roberts Bank facility. Neighbourhoods which had experienced a fair amount of through traffic but limited truck traffic are now subject to an ongoing barrage of trucks, convoys of trucks, day in and day out, basically 24 hours a day.
Somehow or another we have to come to grips with that because this port is one which benefits everybody. It not only benefits the people who live in Delta, but the benefit is enjoyed by all Canadians. It brings great wealth into the country. We have to recognize that the lives of many people have been impacted. We have to look at ways of extracting revenue from the port to try to compensate those people whose lives have been negatively impacted by the port. It is only fair and just. I do not see it as a great imposition on the port or the government to do that; I see it as an obligation.