Transport committee  I'm going to ask the others to answer that question because I don't enforce private bills. I think that's another approval—

Transport committee  It's Keith or other individuals in the region who enforce the act who are responsible for that. If the project requires it, we have an approval, but I'm not sure about that.

Transport committee  Keith could answer that.

Transport committee  If I've correctly understood, you're asking me whether, when we receive a request, we have to establish whether Fisheries and Oceans' approval must be obtained.

Transport committee  I'd like to respond to a couple of your points. With respect to the question of whether this will just impact on small or large projects, from our point of view—Keith had run the data and we presented this the last time—about 20% of our MRIF, our Municipal Rural Infrastructure F

Transport committee  From our point of view, there is not. We still have our obligations under the law.

Transport committee  That is correct.

Transport committee  I'm also going to let Keith answer this. If the environmental impacts when it originally had been assessed haven't changed, if spawning habits or whatever haven't changed, if the repairs are sort of exactly in the same areas--it's still in kind of serviceable areas--it probably

Transport committee  From an infrastructure point of view, unless, as I mentioned earlier, we're putting in funding and we're getting a project description, we are not, to use Yves' point, the responsible authority coordinating the whole thing. In those cases where we wouldn't be the responsible auth

Transport committee  This is that unique case. When we do a block transfer, even though it's federal money and we don't have a project description, we are not the responsible authority. In those cases it's the permitting or the regulations, or their provincial regulations or municipal bylaws.

Transport committee  Is that project also funded by the federal government?

Transport committee  Perhaps I might respond to both dimensions of that. On the port aspect, while I am not administering the gateways fund, as that lies with Transport Canada, I just wanted to point out as well that there is strong recognition of the delays that series of regulatory approvals can b

Transport committee  The system we're using now is working fairly well in the sense that it requires legislative change, undoubtedly, because the act doesn't give us this power, but what Transport Canada has done is set up a risk management system. In those pamphlets they gave you prior to March 11,

Transport committee  They'll change nothing in cases where we have project descriptions, as I already said. I'll give you an example. In the case of a minor work and a secondary waterway in which there is fishing or small fish are born, we have an obligation to assess the environmental aspects.

Transport committee  I'll speak to the issue generally and then to the specifics you have raised. As we have testified here before, it does create delays of at least six months and more. Other testimony—Mr. Middleton's and others'—has indicated eleven months. It certainly could go up to that, but we