Transport committee  Yes, it's a lot of reporting.

Transport committee  A separate report is required in the current act from the Canadian Transportation Agency that reports on all the complaints. This is a report produced by the department, and it's really reporting on the state of transportation. The agency's report reports on all the complaints and the matters dealt with by the agency, and there are no changes proposed to that reporting requirement.

Transport committee  We would propose that it look like basically the facts and figures, the changes on an annual basis from year to year in each of the modes--the infrastructures providers and so on--compared to the five-year report. The five-year report would look at many other factors--it would look at the impacts of trade, for example, the changes in the economy, and the future trends and things like that.

Transport committee  It would probably be half the length of that, yes.

Transport committee  Not really. For example, the departmental performance report and the report on plans and priorities tend to be more with the issues the department is dealing with on an annual basis. It's a three-year report, right? This one is actually on the state of the industry. It's called the industry review, so it's on the state of all the modes of transportation, the activity in transportation, the funding of transportation.

Transport committee  The wording that exists in the act today is what's under subsection 52(1). I can read it for you. In the act today, it says: Each year the Minister shall, before the end of May, lay before Parliament a report briefly reviewing the state of transportation in Canada in respect of the preceding year It then has paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d) under it.

Transport committee  I agree, but I'll let Mr. Langlois answer.

Transport committee  Let me explain it this way. When you're trying to produce a report for public consumption, you can't put a lot of data in there. You have to summarize the data. You have to present it. You have to write it.

Transport committee  I'll try. Currently this bill envisages two reports. One is called an industry report that the department provides, and Mr. Scott's suggestion is that it be very tiny. Right now, according to the legislation, we can't get away with that. We have to make a big report. There's a second report, which is the one we were explaining to Monsieur Carrier.

Transport committee  The details, the facts, yes....

Transport committee  Right. But I'll ask you this question. How many of you have read the department's report on an annual basis? And that's what we're finding, that people aren't reading it. Okay, Mr. Julian is reading it. It takes a lot of effort for what we're understanding is little value.

Transport committee  It’s tabled in Parliament.

Transport committee  Just to clarify, we're not proposing that we not do our work. We will continue to do our work. What we are saying is that rather than preparing a paper report, we have all that information available on the website--in even more detail. You can go on our website today and you can find data on any mode of transportation, any trend, and have it there.

Transport committee  Under the title “Report of Agency”, you find section 42 of the act, which reads as follows: 42.(1) Each year the Agency shall, before the end of May, make a report on the activities of the Agency for the preceding year and submit it to the Governor in Council through the Minister describing briefly, in respect of that year: a) applications to the Agency and the findings on them; and b) the findings of the Agency in regard to any matter or thing respecting which the Agency has acted on the request of the Minister.

Transport committee  I'm going to invite the author of the report to tell you why it takes so long. Keep in mind that this is a report on the state of the transportation industry in Canada, so it talks about all modes, all carriers, and all infrastructure types and other trends that are happening.