Lisa Raitt

[Rail Transportation, February 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member of Parliament, my colleague from Sault Ste. Marie, has been doing an excellent job—

[Health, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the Port of Québec is an arm's-length organization and is responsible for the leasing of land in and around the Port of Québec. Indeed, it is a great responsibility that it has because it increases the economic viability of this great city and does great things to increase the amount of jobs there. In this case, the Port of Québec is working with its tenant to ensure that it is respecting the will of the community and working as best it can with the Ministry of the Environment on the matter, and that is what we expect them to do.

[Quebec Bridge, February 5th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated in the House before, the Quebec Bridge that he refers to is actually owned by CN, which has the responsibility to maintain it. We have already inspected the track, as we should, and it is safe. However, CN is not living up to its end of the bargain. That is why we are in court. We are protecting taxpayers' dollars.

[Air Transportation, February 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, the safety of Canadians and the travelling public is always going to be our first priority. Indeed, just to fix some of the facts that were misquoted in the question, first of all, I was made aware of the incident when the RCMP was made aware of it, as was my staff, in September. We immediately directed officials to talk to CATSA to review its procedures and processes to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen again.

Obviously, it has gone through the court process and the individual has been charged, but the reality is that he should never have been allowed to get on the plane, and we have corrected that with CATSA.

[Rail Transportation, February 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that my response will be founded more on fact than it will be founded on emotion, but what I will tell the member is that CN has offered up for sale that portion of the line that the hon. member has indicated is up for discontinuance. It is up for private sector cooperation. It is also there for the province or the municipalities to purchase the line. If there is passenger and freight service on that line, I am sure somebody will step up and take advantage of the opportunity.

[Rail Transportation, February 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, VIA Rail is an independent crown corporation. As such, it is responsible for its own operating decisions.

As the member has pointed out, CN has indicated its desire to discontinue the line in New Brunswick. It is a private company. It is a private decision based upon their business practices. VIA will still have the ability to have the Montreal to Halifax run through a different part of New Brunswick.

[Rail Transportation, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member has said, CN is a private company that takes decisions regarding which lines it wants to operate in the country. If it chooses not to operate and to discontinue a line, it goes through a process that is set out in the Canada Transportation Act. CN is following that right now. We are monitoring closely. We are working with VIA Rail and with everybody who has an interest in these lines to get to the right place.

That said, it is incredibly important to note that VIA Rail is an arm's-length corporation that makes its own business decisions.

[Quebec Bridge, January 30th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the owner of this bridge is Canadian National. It made a deal with the Government of Canada back in 1997, and the government assumed it would fully restore the bridge. It has not done that, and that is why, on behalf of Canadian taxpayers, the Government of Canada is taking CN to court to ensure that taxpayers get value for the deal they made for the bridge.

[Canada Post, January 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in its five-point action plan, Canada Post has outlined a number of things that it will be doing. Of course, these are Canada Post's business decisions.

One of the things it indicated is that it will accommodate the situations it may be facing with respect to people with disabilities, or seniors. It does that already for the two thirds of family households that already receive mail through this method, and it will move the other one third, eventually, over the next five years, to have the same amount of service.

[Canada Post, January 29th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the way the business model worked at Canada Post in the pre-digital era was very different from the way it does now when people are utilizing email.

With respect to incorporating banking in postal service outlets, it is very clear that Canada Post considered the model and rejected it for the very reason it is having a problem now. Maybe the member should wake up to this, too. People are actually using banking online, just as they are sending correspondence online. The opposition members are trying to solve a problem by creating another problem. No amount of money can get them or tax them out of this situation.