Transport committee  Clause 18 exists to allow the minister to designate another person to do the same thing the minister himself does. What is very important to understand here is that the powers under clause 17 are very serious. I cannot emphasize that more. They're very serious because they allow the minister, through his own decision, to order a series of very significant things in terms of “do this, do that”, and it's aimed to be done on a very urgent basis only.

Transport committee  Federal jurisdiction and laws apply within and up to the Canadian border. When a bridge is owned by an American firm, but is nonetheless located within Canada's borders, Canada's laws apply, just as they would apply to any operator, whether Canadian or foreign.

Transport committee  The wording of the current provision refers to the development and implementation of security plans and also of safety plans. We got this only this morning. Frankly, I'm not convinced that the addition of the words adds much in terms of the scope of the provision and the possibility, in the development of those regulations, of requiring that the question of dangerous goods be addressed.

Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, my initial reaction is that the motion is aimed at the transportation of hazardous materials. The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act governs the transportation of dangerous goods with regard to the manner in which they can be transported in terms of physical containers, but I think it's also correct to say that it's not aimed at specifically the same thing that the motion is concerned about.

Transport committee  I'd like to pick up on your offer to take some time to do the drafting. When I'm sitting with the drafter by myself, we sometimes take a long time to develop revisions. My own experience is that the more people who are added, the more difficult it becomes. What I would undertake, though, is to speak with my drafting colleagues.

Transport committee  According to my understanding of the amendment, the current structure, whereby the minister makes his decision, remains. We wish to add other parties, however, to the consultation before the minister makes his decision. I do not understand, from my reading of the proposal made, that it is intended that the minister’s decision should be conditional on the approval of the people consulted.

Transport committee  Yes, if I may. I will answer the member’s comments. It is solely a question of the order in which the parties must be consulted. If we began by talking about a consultation with the people Mr. Jean talked about using his words and then referred to a consultation of owners and operators about their financial situation, this would deal with your concern and also Mr.

Transport committee  Yes, but I'd like to make a comment. I understand your point vis-à-vis the consultation of the community and all of that. As Evelyn mentioned, however, the whole idea of the provision is to be reactive. In other words, my sense is that if there's a traffic problem resulting from modification of the tolls, the people you referred to earlier, the community, the municipality, and all of that, would in all likelihood be the ones triggering the process.

Transport committee  As a minister of the Crown, he can always set up that type of commission or review, depending on how you want to call it. But it's true that you don't need that authority for the minister to set up commissions.

Transport committee  International bridges are a federal jurisdiction, which means that the federal government, Parliament, can basically govern every action that relates to it in the way that Parliament deems appropriate. This motion has to do with the interplay between provincial and federal legislation.

Transport committee  If you do that, all of a sudden you'll have to refer to all the provincial legislation to see whether what you want to do is correct. In terms of whether it's acceptable or not, it definitely impacts the scope and the application of the bill to the point where the federal jurisdiction over international bridges would be limited at times, depending on the legislation applied by the provinces and municipalities.

Transport committee  I have to say that I don't think it's correct to refer to the fact that the federal government would break a municipal law. The federal legislation applies, and when it applies it governs what it's aimed at governing. If the intent, as Mr. Scott is suggesting, is to have a consultation, you don't do that through this mechanism.

Transport committee  Mr. Laframboise, the word “agrément” is the term used in the bill to designate the approval given by the Governor in Council, her consent. The word “agrément” is used consistently thoughout the bill to express the equivalent of the English word “approval”. For example, in clause 7, it reads: “L'obtention de l'agrément [...] est subordonné à [...]”.

Transport committee  The idea of including “alterations” is just that...everybody understands why constructing a bridge and why it would be regulated in the way it's proposed here. Vis-à-vis alterations, a series of alterations may have a significant impact on the traffic capacity of a bridge, and this is really what it's about---having regulations that will make sure that through alterations you may have an impact.

Transport committee  In fact, the complaints only concern tolls.