Transport committee  A reliable and efficient supply chain is critical to the economic well-being of our country. I repeat: it must be reliable and efficient. The transport sector is responsible for facilitating trade, which comprised 61% of Canada’s GDP in 2021, a year in which the supply chain suf

Transport committee  I'm here, Louise. I'll take over this question. First, going back to government, you saw governments in the last few days taking a position on immigration. That's one thing we were pushing in our report when we were talking about labour. We heard from the stakeholders that we ne

Transport committee  To add to Louise's comments, it is key. Many departments touch the supply chain, and they play a role in it. If you talk about the borders, as an example, and the CFIA, it's key for them that we also put KPIs in their performance, because the supply chain office brings together a

Transport committee  We have identified trucking. Fifty per cent of our trade depends on trucking, so if we're missing 25,000 drivers, and trucking is key, then.... You have 23% that is maritime labour in the port, and you have 12% that is rail. If you take just rail and trucking, you have 62% of our

Transport committee  Don't forget that if you're talking about drivers, you need to train them. It's a process. Driving is not recognized right now as a profession, and in terms of adding something, you saw in our report that we're pushing for a program and for the federal government and the province

Transport committee  You're right, Louise. Many stakeholders did talk about automation. One area in which it's well developed right now is in automatic warehouses. People are having a hard time getting lift-truck drivers, so they're investing a lot of money in those warehouses. Again, I doubt we'

Transport committee  First, we met with industry actors in several provinces. We did not meet with each of the provinces, since only some of them had made submissions. However, we talked about a national problem, which will mean we are able to look outside for workers. If we want to stay in business

Transport committee  Our report says clearly that for experienced drivers to want to remain in the labour market, they would need to be given a tax incentive. There is a labour shortage at present, and these experienced workers would be useful until enough drivers have been trained.

Transport committee  If I can add to that, just to give you an example, a boat can take 10 days to cross the ocean to come to Canada. Legislation will permit 72 hours to announce there's either a strike or a lockout. How can we be considered a reliable supplier when a boat is coming through the ocean

Transport committee  Mr. Strahl, one thing in our recommendations is that we are putting more power into the CTA. We also list some criteria that need to be followed by the CTA in order to engage the railways. For sure, with that in their hands, we're beefing up their authority, so that should be qui

Transport committee  I would add, for our discussion, that rail is also a North American activity. We spent a week in Washington, and we looked at some of the practices of the Surface Transportation Board. That's also in our report.

Transport committee  I don't operate a transport company. You can read the results of our research in our report. We would agree with that recommendation ourselves if the industry thinks it would enable them to recruit more drivers. The objective is to hire more drivers in order to offer more service

Transport committee  I won't answer on behalf of Quebec; I am not its premier.

Transport committee  My parents arrived from Italy, as did yours, I assume. They were hired by Canadian Pacific. They disembarked at Ellis Island, in New York City. I won't take a position regarding Quebec. The government has its policies. I am not in the government. I think we need immigrants to co

Transport committee  If the governments worked together well, there would undoubtedly be no labour shortage. The governments have to look at the labour shortage as a national problem. It isn't solely a provincial problem. We have to find ways together to ensure Canada's prosperity and the efficiency