Transport committee  Thank you. Madam Chair, members of the committee, Mr. Aubin, MP for Trois-Rivières, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you today. Recognized for the excellence of its terminal operators, its qualified workers and the quality of its infrastructure, the Port de

Transport committee  I was going to say the same thing. The port authorities' environmental assessment process is currently very well managed. The new bill is not going to improve things, and I would even say it will make them worse. In my view, no port authority wants this bill, and the Association

Transport committee  They rely a lot on us. We are the ones.... We've learned, I would say in particular in Trois-Rivières, to work with them. If I compare the situation to that of 10 years ago, when we had to convince them about improving the environment, these days it's a natural for them. Not only

Transport committee  Yes, thank you.

Transport committee  Yes, that I know well. I've been sailing there for many years.

Transport committee  Thank you very much.

Transport committee  Actually, out of the $132 million, $50 million came directly from the port. About $20 million came from both federal and provincial governments, and about $50 million from the private sector. It's money well invested for the federal government, and even the Province of Quebec. It

Transport committee  That's a good question. Last year, the Port of Trois-Rivières grew 47%. With the new docks that we built, we were expecting that kind of cargo in five years' time. We've had it in one year, so we're full again. They go through Trois-Rivières because the productivity is good, th

Transport committee  Not only that, but we have integrated our development plan with the city. We did that in 2010. We're sitting with the city, and doing our planning together. You will find what is related to the port in the planning of the city, and what is related to the city in the planning of t

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  Yes, we manage all of it.

Transport committee  Our letters patent were good for 20 years. They are still good. We must not touch them. With the On Course for 2020 project, we collaborated with our city, our community and our residents on many things. The biggest problem we now have is that we lack the authority to develop th

Transport committee  Exactly.

Transport committee  I would like to add something. I will turn to the Chair, who I met recently. When the government asks us, the port authorities, to get closer to our communities, we want to do so, and so do the communities. I would ask that, if possible, the committee look at the request for au

Transport committee  That's an excellent question. We have special difficulties in the region. It's the big network of CN and CP. So, we're having all sorts of problems. There are paper barriers that I should tell you about. There are infrastructure problems. I'll give you an example. There is a bri