Transport committee  It's not a problem. I'm sorry about that. The problem that I see is with the railcars going east and west. We can get the boxes off, get them on railcars and get them to the eastern provinces. However, then what we're hearing about is the issues in the warehouses in Toronto, Mon

Transport committee  Thank you. Our capacity in B.C. was approximately 6.3 million TEUs for 2022. We used 4,612,130 of those twenty-foot-equivalent spots. As of the end of 2022, we have space for approximately another 1.5 million containers. Do we need more container capacity in the west? No, we d

Transport committee  Good morning. Thanks. My name is Robert Ashton, national president for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada. My pronouns are he and him. The current year to date volumes comparing December 2022 and December 2021 show that fully loaded, imports are down 3.9% an

Public Safety committee  I would say that the process we currently have is very good. That's why I don't believe we need to be a part of that.

Public Safety committee  The short answer is no, the reason being that, again, Canada shouldn't be allowing American workers to go to work in America. It's not our business and not our right—

Public Safety committee  As you say, it is currently reciprocal. The documents I've read have said that it's a reciprocal agreement. I'll tell you that right now. For my membership to get their Transport security clearance, we're waiting anywhere from six months to a year. If you add in the reciprocity

Public Safety committee  We do it every four years—

Public Safety committee  For my security clearance right now, I do it every four years. Under this new agreement, the names get sent down every day.

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  Let me put it to you this way. If U.S. Homeland Security sends up derogatory information to my employer, and my employer chooses to ignore that, and they operate the cruise ship facilities, what do you think happens? The U.S. authorities, Homeland Security, I'm sure would take ex

Public Safety committee  I don't believe that. I don't.

Public Safety committee  No, I wouldn't agree with that.

Public Safety committee  I mean no disrespect by this, but if you feel that a foreign government taking away Canada's sovereignty by refusing Canadians their right to work in Canada is an operational issue, then I respectfully believe you're wrong on that.

Public Safety committee  But why would you even give a foreign government the ability to do that, to even enter that path? We're Canadians. We're working in Canada. No foreign government should allow that.

Public Safety committee  I'm unsure. All I know is that in my union, members get their background checks when they go to work on the waterfront. And if they go to work in secured areas of the cruise ship terminals and other parts of the waterfront, they have to go through the marine transportation securi