Transport committee  I'll ask our director for ports policy to respond to that.

Transport committee  In the binder there is another document that explains things in greater detail. It talks about long-term use of land. I can give you the reference later on.

Transport committee  It is a policy initiative that would be reflected in the letters patent of the port authorities. The letters patent are like their mandates. They explain what type of land is managed by the ports, the activities that can take place on the land as well as any other information dea

Transport committee  The proposed changes, particularly to the introduction or purpose section, clearly reflect the feedback that was received by the panel dealing with the Canada Marine Act when they conducted their review. There was very broad-based input to that effect. We've also had the benefit

Transport committee  Clause 38, which amends subsection 71(1), changes only the text. It is a question of the texts matching.

Transport committee  But—

Transport committee  No, not at all. This section has to do with public ports and not port authorities.

Transport committee  This would be the case for a policy initiative. The different elements are described in a document in your binder. The only change to the act is to subsection 45(3.2), concerning the use of lands. It simply says that in the case of a port authority, the land could be for temporar

Transport committee  You have several points there. The point you raised on tax-exempt bonds I think would fall under the purview of the Finance policies. I'll ask my legal counsel to amplify on that.

Transport committee  That issue was discussed on a broad base when the national marine policy legislation went through in the late 1990s. It has been raised periodically in observations in some instances, particularly by port authorities. When the review was taking place, they were looking at the dif

Transport committee  Indeed, there are various ways they could get financing for their capital projects, through their borrowing capability, through private interests that would invest. As proposed in this bill, they would also be eligible, as other transportation entities are, for contribution progr

Transport committee  Certainly they've been doing that. Now, whether it would be the full $1 billion.... I think once again we'd have to look on a case-by-case basis, and it would have to be up to the port authority to demonstrate how they would look at that financing.

Transport committee  We undertook a fairly rigorous study. The executive summary of that study is contained in the briefing binder. We hired outside experts to look at a variety of different models that exist to assess what it would represent to port authorities, in the revenue range they are in, to

Transport committee  The review that took place in 2002-03 was, as I indicated earlier, quite broad. It touched on a variety of areas. It touched on access to federal contribution funding, security, governance structures, and so on. We've had the benefit since 2003, when that report was laid out, o

Transport committee  These changes that are being proposed would be necessary to access any of those funds that could be eligible for port operations.