Transport committee  It was not raised by external stakeholders.

Transport committee  I'm not aware of any specific examples, so it is looking ahead, but we can go back to see if there's anything specific that has happened previously. It was identified as a gap in the context of our review of the legislation.

Transport committee  Currently the legislation is silent on that. Proposed section 17.1 was to address the scenario in which that happened and what the process would be, because there is no provision right now.

Transport committee  I think that would be part of it. Currently it is the board that appoints the chair, under the existing section 17 of the act. If the minister is responsible for appointing the chair, it would be necessary to have a provision to allow the board to appoint a chair on an interim basis to ensure that there is no gap.

Transport committee  In the context of the ports modernization review, this was one of the issues that was raised, particularly in respect of ports that were located around smaller communities. It's the reason that the provision is being introduced, and also the complementary position in respect of the provincial employees as well.

Transport committee  Based on our understanding of the amendment, it's not clear, because the board of directors isn't actually appointing them under 14(1)(d). They have to appoint them under the new provision. The new provision does not include language that says it has to be done in consultation with the user groups.

Transport committee  Under paragraph 14(1)(a), those are the Governor in Council appointees. One individual is nominated by the minister. Paragraph 14(1)(d) is in relation to the individuals nominated by the minister in consultation with user groups. Pursuant to the amendments that were adopted previously by committee, that would include the labour groups.

Transport committee  For federal directors, candidates apply to a selection process via the Privy Council website. A selection committee then undertakes evaluations for the minister's consideration, and the minister then recommends a candidate for a Governor in Council appointment. The recruitment for user directors is managed slightly differently.

Transport committee  The effect of the amendment wouldn't be to reduce the overall number of user-nominated or user group-related individuals on the board. It's just that one of those would now be in consultation with a labour user group as set out in the letters patent. That's my understanding.

Transport committee  That would depend on the individual letters patent of the board. The user groups are defined in the letters patent for each individual CPA. Six of 17 of the CPAs already do consult labour groups in the context. For six of the 17 CPAs, labour groups are included as part of their user group.

Transport committee  The legislation includes a clarification of the mandate of ports in respect of the traffic management for vessels entering into port waters. There is concurrently work that's under way with the VFPA, which some of you may be familiar with, in terms of how traffic is better managed throughout the southern Gulf Islands, to ensure we are mitigating the community concerns around the use of those anchorages.

Transport committee  Anchorages are effectively a common-law right for safe navigation, so there are a number of protocols and regulations across government that impact how vessels can conduct their operations at those anchorages. The port authority has an interim protocol in place and is working with vessels to ensure they are moving along, in terms of improving how they're operating and improving the use of the anchorages in the southern Gulf Islands.

Transport committee  In terms of the legislation itself, there are new requirements with the development of five-year plans regarding climate change actions—effectively, GHG mitigation measures that ports would be working through. That can include a range of activities, and there are provisions in the legislation regarding what some of those plans will include, as well as provisions for the development of regulations regarding GHG emission reduction targets for ports.

Transport committee  There are a number of measures contained in the legislation that would help support that. The first, which we've already talked about, is the advisory committees, which provide a more formalized mechanism for communities to have input into the port operations. This is a recognition that our CPAs don't exist in a vacuum.

Transport committee  No, we haven't done an independent cost analysis of the financial reporting requirements for ports. Was that your question?