Transport committee  As Minister Garneau said, there's a lot of work going on to work through this very technical issue. Minister Garneau and his provincial colleagues on the council of ministers of transport commissioned a task force report on trucking harmonization. It came in early in 2019. An interprovincial group on weights and measures has been tasked with working through that and establishing priorities to harmonize these regulations.

Transport committee  I cannot predict exactly how many organizations will end up applying and be recipients going forward, but based on the trends and to date we have seen heavy subscription to this program. The reason we have seen it is that there has been a significant effort in developing partnerships with coastal indigenous groups on these two issues.

Transport committee  Madam Chair, for these organizations Transport Canada develops a contribution agreement whereby the organization commits to certain activities that advance the purpose of the program—in this case, community capacity, marine safety, coastal ecosystem restoration—and the organization is obliged to carry out those activities for which we are contributing, and we contribute less than 100%.

Transport committee  There are several. The first is that, in the construction of both the terms and conditions and the results...the work and results, that is the purpose of the contribution agreement, it's very clear what it's for and what it's not for and that the recipient would need to demonstrate that they are actually executing the work that was agreed to.

Transport committee  Yes. I can turn to my colleagues, but that's it. It varies. The exact details of how we execute this process will vary by the recipient and by the amount, but essentially, that is at its core the process. For any recipient, the question is the activities have been agreed to and these activities would relate back to community capacity building, in terms of marine safety or ecosystem preparations.

Transport committee  There are two things. I apologize, but I don't have detailed knowledge of that program. In our work with the large airports, we ensure that they actually deliver on the commitments they've made to us, under either a program or the lease agreements, because Transport Canada is the landlord for most of the large airports.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  The activities in the community participation program, which is under the oceans protection plan, that would be supported and funded and that the government would contribute to would be ones directly related to marine safety and coastal ecosystem restoration. If there were a political activity, it would not be eligible under the terms and conditions of the program.

Transport committee  Yes, we do. I will turn it over to my assistant deputy minister of programs, Anuradha Marisetti, who is actually in charge of the program. Would you give an update with a couple of details on those?

Transport committee  Madam Chair, I think we would adjust our schedule based on the will of the committee.

Transport committee  Madam Chair, that's a great question. A contaminated site in the Transport Canada portfolio would be lands owned within the Transport Canada portfolio and have a contamination from historic activity. Often airports have PFAS, that foam that was used in firefighting drills, and often petroleum products.

Transport committee  The concerns vary by the contamination. PFAS, the firefighting foam that was historically used in airports, as an example, is used in drills. It was not known at the time, but it contains compounds toxic to humans. It gets in the groundwater. We're working on remediation plans at several airports with respect to that.

Transport committee  As you properly indicated, the funds in the interim estimates provide the core operating budget for MAI to provide the constitutional service to Newfoundland and Labrador. In terms of the fleet renewal plan for MAI, we're actually having an active discussion with MAI at this time.

Transport committee  The amount of $760,000 is for VIA Rail to study the high frequency railway. Which line is the $760,000 for VIA Rail on?

Transport committee  We're spending the $8 million to study the high frequency rail proposal.