Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague for the question. He is absolutely right. I said that just a few minutes ago. The economic impact on local communities is considerable.
For the stretch of the St. Lawrence between Montreal and the upstream tip of Île d'Orléans, for example, there are dredging fees charged according to gross tonnage, at the rate of $0.0345 per tonne each trip. Obviously, the net effect of these charges is that any ships headed for the United States avoid as far as possible putting in at the various Quebec and Canadian ports along the St. Lawrence, in order to avoid paying these fees. As I have already said, this has negative effects on the local communities. Traffic decreases and fewer ships berth in their community. This leads to lay-offs and to indirect economic spinoffs that have a negative impact on the various suppliers to the port facilities. The impact is, therefore, a heavy one.
I believe my colleague has also pointed out that, despite the fact that the shipping companies, and the people of Quebec pay taxes to Ottawa, they have to pay the fees imposed by the Coast Guard in addition. And what services are provided in return? I have already said, the services provided by the Coast Guard are constantly decreasing in number, and so there are fewer and fewer vessel-trips. The effect of this, as I have also pointed out—one more negative effect—is that there is less monitoring of the cruising speed of vessels on the St. Lawrence. As a result, they are going faster. Obviously, they want to get to the U.S. ports as quickly as possible, so they increase their speed. This leads to erosion of the shores of the St. Lawrence.
As for the government's decision, it would appear they want to continue with it. I would like to see them come to the realization that this has had negative effects on the communities along the St. Lawrence and it is high time these fees were eliminated.