Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of my party to speak in favour of Motion No. 242:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should, in cooperation with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, examine all measures to improve transportation between the island of Newfoundland and mainland Canada, including a fixed link and renewal of the Marine Atlantic ferry service.
This is an important issue. It is an important issue for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, but also for the Quebec coast. Coming from British Columbia as I do, I know the importance of having good, effective, safe and affordable marine transportation.
British Columbia, as members well know, has a variety of ferry links and a provincially-owned ferry service, and the men and women of the B.C. ferry service do an excellent job of keeping those links between communities right up the coast of British Columbia. Looking at the other coast now, the Atlantic coast, that is why it is important that we have the same type of infrastructure in place to ensure a reliable, safe and affordable ferry service.
The last few decades have been difficult in that sense. The NDP has been speaking constantly and regularly on this issue in the House. We have had a strong and growing infrastructure deficit. What we have seen over the preceding Liberal government, and certainly under the Conservative government as well, is that we have not seen the investments in transportation infrastructure that we need to see.
What this means is that for more remote parts of Canada many areas of Canada are falling further and further behind. What that means is less accessibility and less opportunity for those communities and those regions of Canada to be tied into the rest of the country.
When Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation, commitments were made to ensure that there was a safe and affordable transportation system in place between the mainland of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador. Unfortunately, because of that infrastructure deficit that I have just mentioned, what has happened is that over time it has become less and less affordable in regard to those links for Marine Atlantic, because the funding simply has not kept up with the demand and the requirement for ensuring Newfoundland and Labrador is connected to the rest of the country.
This is tragic, to say the least. I have been fortunate and have travelled right across Newfoundland and through the south coast of Labrador. I have travelled from Rivière-St-Paul right up to Red Bay in Labrador, at the limit of the Labradorian highway. Even coming from British Columbia, I can say that no part of the country is more stunning in its beauty or more friendly in the welcome its inhabitants give to visitors.
That area from Rivière-St-Paul in Quebec right up to Red Bay is essentially not connected up in any way with the rest of the Canadian highway grid. We certainly hope to see that type of linkage some day, right up the north coast of Quebec, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and right up to Labrador.
As well, we should look at the possibility of eventually having a much more effective link between the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland itself. That is something I would certainly like to see.
Having stood on the grounds of the Pointe d'Amour lighthouse, one of the oldest and most beautiful lighthouses in Atlantic Canada, and seeing it from that location and reading about the abortive attempts to have that linkage between Labrador and Newfoundland, I am certainly aware of the difficulties and the challenges that having these closer links would entail, but it does not mean that we should simply decide that at no point should we have those links.
We should be looking to repair our transportation deficit, our infrastructure deficit, by providing more of that transportation funding so that we can have better linkages between the Labrador coast and Newfoundland itself. I am sure my friend, the member for Labrador, is in agreement with me.
We are strongly in favour of providing more of that support for Marine Atlantic, more of that support so that there can be more regular and more affordable service between mainland Canada and Newfoundland, but we are also in favour of looking at a bigger picture.
We are in favour of making Labrador and Newfoundland more accessible through the northern highway grid that hopefully eventually will be extended after negotiations with the first nations of those areas and in agreement with the proper public consultation process, thus making sure that all Canadians have the opportunity of experiencing the beauty of the south Labrador coast and the north coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The whole issue of transportation is extremely important for the prosperity of Newfoundland and Labrador, as it is for the prosperity of British Columbia. We need to continue to move forward and provide the kind of appropriate funding that will make sure those links grow stronger and that the communities in Newfoundland and Labrador have at their disposition all the tools to address the issues that we in this corner of the House have been speaking to for the past few years, issues such as the prosperity gap.
Most middle class and lower income families are actually falling further and further behind. That is just one manifestation of funding that tends to be concentrated in a few areas, rather than governments, either Liberal or Conservative, supporting a much broader investment in transportation infrastructure across the country. This prosperity gap, which the NDP has certainly spoken to, is just one manifestation of the transportation deficit, the infrastructure deficit, that we are experiencing across the country.
We need to start turning things around by providing more of that investment in transportation infrastructure and by providing more funding for communities so they have the tools for their own development. We should be looking as well at all measures to improve transportation between Newfoundland and Labrador and mainland Canada.
For those reasons, we support Motion No. 242 and we hope that members in all four corners of this House will do the same.