Mr. Speaker, on January 6, I had the honour of attending a ceremony on behalf of the Minister of Transport at which a gold-headed cane was presented to Captain Qin Xiao Fei, master of the Exeborg, the first ocean-going vessel to reach the Port of Montreal without a stopover in 2020.
The Port of Montreal is Canada's second-largest port and a major economic driver for my riding, the city of Montreal, the province of Quebec and the rest of Canada. That is why our government has invested in several projects to improve its productivity. For the first time in its history, the Port of Montreal passed the milestone of 40 million tonnes of cargo handled.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the president and CEO of the Port of Montreal, Sylvie Vachon, along with her team and pilots from the Corporation of Mid St. Lawrence Pilots, for their hard work.