David Anderson

[Transport, March 20th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that comprehensive question.

As the budget announced, the government is going to sell the 13,000 hopper cars which are owned by the department. Next week the department will be inviting proposals from potential financial advisers with knowledge and expertise in both rail financing and the grain industry who will assist in drafting the terms and conditions for the transfer and the terms of sale.

When considering proposals I can assure my hon. colleague that the interests of producers, shippers and the railways will be taken into account. The objective is to make the most efficient use of these cars and to achieve maximum benefit for the Canadian taxpayers.

How much will be achieved in the sale, I cannot at this time state.

[Air Transportation, March 19th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong once again. A three year protection is afforded to Canadian air carriers, that is Air Canada and Canadian. During those three years, there is absolutely no chance of any such thing happening.

What we are doing is giving Canadian and Air Canada a chance to maximize their business on the American market. Thanks to the changes that we made, both companies are registering a remarkable and very profitable increase in their activities.

[Air Transportation, March 19th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is wrong. The government's decision to support Canadian's request to be exempted from the application of the U.S. antitrust legislation fully complies with the open skies agreement on air transportation. That agreement has enabled air carriers to maximize their benefits, according to their own corporate strategy.

[Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act, March 14th, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-20, an act respecting the commercialization of civil air navigation services.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform the House that in accordance with Standing Order 73(1), it is the intention of the government that this bill be referred to a committee before second reading.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and referred to a committee.)

[Highways, March 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, before this government took office the previous government did a study of the Trans-Labrador Highway. There were two aspects involved. The cost to bring it up to a paved two lane highway with .8 meter paved shoulders and a design speed of 100 kilometres was $625 million. It went up from there to the second phase to between $700 million and $1.125 billion.

That is the type of approach of the party opposite: endorsing for short term byelection purposes extravagant road building projects in Labrador. I would like to think that party would adopt a more responsible approach, particularly in light of the responsible budget we heard in the House only a week ago.

[Highways, March 11th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, with the leader of the Reform Party promising hundreds of millions of dollars of highways in Labrador, I am surprised the hon. member did not follow up his leader's approach.

We have number of agreements in place with the provinces but of course we have limited funds. At the present time Transport Canada is putting out some hundreds of millions of dollars on joint programs that have been agreed to with the provinces to improve the road systems. We will obviously be looking at Saskatchewan along with the other requests that come in.

I must point out again to the hon. member and his party that funds are limited. The Minister of Finance is a hard taskmaster and we do not have the opportunity of spending money on roads right, left and centre as that party seems to believe we should.

[Ports, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that the security at our ports is a major concern to me, the Solicitor General of Canada, the Minister of Justice and every member of the government.

We want to ensure that in the transfer to local port authorities the policing function is at a level which is as effective as previously, if not more so. We will be working as best we can to make sure that the level of security at the ports of Canada, particularly the major ports, is just as high as it has ever been or in fact augmented.

I can assure him that this will be the case in Vancouver and elsewhere.

However, I must also point out that as local authorities take more control they may have variations in the existing system which we will have to consider. I want the whole House to understand that the level of security will be maintained.

[Grain, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his kind words.

Certainly the concern about the grain shipments from the prairies is a very important part of the Transport Canada portfolio.

However, a number of factors come into play when considering grain exports. Weather is one of the more difficult ones at this time of year.

We are lucky to have virtually unprecedented prices for Canadian grain overseas and we will do everything we can within the transport system to make sure that deliveries are made as effectively as possible so we can take advantage of that market.

The work that has been done to make sure we have a more competitive transportation system is very much key and central to having a system in place year by year which will be able to deliver our products to markets effectively wherever they may be overseas.

I can assure him I look forward to working with him to make sure those goals are achieved.

[Air Safety, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, certainly I can give the hon. member the assurance that the safety systems of Air Canada are among the very best in the world. We are doing everything possible to make sure that standard of safety is maintained.

I can assure him also that this matter will be looked into by the department and that in due course we will have further information to give him.

I would like to make sure that the House fully understands that the safety system for Canadian airlines and the Canadian air transport system are of the world's highest level.

[Air Safety, February 29th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that we have full confidence in Air Canada's safety systems.

We are looking into the matter which occurred some six weeks ago. It appears that the problem which arose was, in fact, not related to the Department of Transport but an error in a clerk's typing of one code which led to a mistake in Japan. That is what we are looking into at the present time. That is all the information I can give him at this time.