Transport committee  Particularly for large projects, our ports today have borrowing limits that are set in letters patent. My understanding is that the process for changing that is very time-consuming and lengthy. One approach would be to improve that process. An alternative is to move away from arbitrary lending limits and move to where ports are able to work with private lenders based on financial risk and—

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. It is an interesting one. From my perspective, two months in, there seem to be a few. One would be the risk of delaying getting the capacity that is needed for the near future and the long term. Infrastructure investments do not happen overnight, particularly major infrastructure investments of the nature that Canada's port authorities are making.

Transport committee  I would say that it is absolutely in line with the objectives of the program. The program is trying to meet many needs. With $880 million going into projects for our ports, I would say that our ports are being recognized by the program. Certainly, anything that can improve supply chain resiliency and the investments that ports need to make in terms of dealing with climate change, to adapt to climate change, which also affects resiliency and redundancy....

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. I will respond in English if you do not mind. The answer is really all of the above. There are investments needed in physical ports' capacity, and ports are pursuing those in a variety of ways. There's also technology and innovation. Canada's port authorities are very innovative.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your question, Mr. Badawey. A lot of what you've asked about is in the report you referenced last week, which was done by the committee in 2019. There's a lot in there that's certainly worth looking at. I'll speak to a couple of areas. On financial flexibility, certainly, as you noted, there are borrowing limits that were set decades ago, and ports are dealing with amending those.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm happy to respond. There's a lot involved, as mentioned in your laundry list, which is one of the reasons that we've been calling, and supporting the calls of others, for a national supply chain strategy. Key to that is identifying, nurturing and promoting key dedicated trade corridors—for example, this tremendous marine highway that we have with the Great Lakes and the St.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to begin by acknowledging that I'm joining you from the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples. Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today as part of your study on the state of Canada’s supply chain.