Transport committee  We have short and long-term leaseholders. We have no immediate plans to partially or radically change our way of doing business.

Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  I can perhaps address part of it, but I'll let you judge if it has something to do with Bill C-23. There are three gateways in the country: Atlantic, continental, and the Pacific. In terms of the continental gateway, there is a subdivision that addresses the St. Lawrence and the

Transport committee  Here's the paradox: 2007 was considered a low-water year, and that's no big secret, but we had the largest traffic ever in container arrivals. Post-Panamax ships from Maersk call at Montreal. Post-Panamax is the largest ship that ever came to Montreal. At the same time, we're tal

Transport committee  What will suffice?

Transport committee  Yes, it's possible, but it's got to be in specific places. Our issues are not all along the St. Lawrence, but specific points.

Transport committee  We have elements that permit the evaluation of the price.

Transport committee  We would particularly like to consolidate and optimize our existing infrastructure. It is of course very important to me that as we undertake this second growth phase we have an even stronger foundation than we did for the first, which took place between 1970 and 1980. Still on

Transport committee  During fiscal 2007, we handled almost 26 million tonnes, the vast majority of which was containerized, which fact has had a certain impact, especially on our financial health. As I said earlier, this overall growth in cargo has increased on average 3% to 4% per year, and especial

Transport committee  Absolutely. I spoke to the former president of that organization as well as the new one, whom I met, and to Mr. Gagnon, the director general. Moreover, there has been a meeting of all the CEOs of St. Lawrence ports, namely Quebec City, Sept-Îles and the Saguenay. We met to discus

Transport committee  I haven't heard about any merger project. I think that the main objective of the Sodes, which looks after grouping activities and infrastructures that affect the St. Lawrence, is to increase trade at the gateway, as you've already mentioned. That objective does not necessarily ha

Transport committee  For me, what's at stake here fundamentally is to bring more traffic to the St. Lawrence. The problem is upstream, not in maritime terms but in economic terms. For example, the Port of Montreal's most important client right now is Northern Europe. The North Atlantic route therefor

Transport committee  Perhaps I can add a similar comment, not only from inside the administration but also from everybody involved in the ports. I've talked to the president of the union about this, about the plan. Basically, from their side, it's this: What can we do to help you? As an anecdote, I

Transport committee  Yes, I'll try to be concrete in terms of our plan. There are basically two elements. One is about our current infrastructure. I'm not talking about a new terminal; I'm talking about our current infrastructure. Today, one of the elements for the Port of Montreal is to look at ho

Transport committee  It depends on the owner. These entities can be private or commercial. Naturally, there's a whole range of stakeholders or people who are owners.