Transport committee  Through the chair, the municipalities in Niagara—and there are 12 as well as the upper tier, the county, basically, the region of Niagara—are the boots on the ground. We have the experience in moving people, moving products and attracting new investment. I personally visit busi

Transport committee  We do have an infrastructure deficit, like most municipalities in Ontario and, I would suggest, in Canada. We try to keep our roads and bridges safe for our community. We've been trying to replace municipal facilities on a go-forward basis. We have a nice operations centre, a lib

Transport committee  For us, I think the most important thing would be movement of people and goods. I would like to see us have connectivity. I think the new normal is a connected downtown where people can get information through the Internet of things, basically, and where their cars are connected

Transport committee  I'm sorry. At the city for the municipal needs...?

Transport committee  The city doesn't operate the port. We're called Port Colborne, but the shipping canal, the Welland Canal, is the actual waterway. There are businesses, wharves and docks that are part of the seaway infrastructure, but that's all administered by the seaway management corporation.

Transport committee  Through the chair, I believe we do, through payments in lieu of taxation. It's basically a federal transfer in lieu of tax.

Transport committee  Sure. We have a good mix of lakefront residential and canal waterfront commercial and industrial features. We have waterfront on both sides of the municipality, through the middle via the canal, and around Lake Ontario, and because of that, we've seen a huge increase in residenti

Transport committee  Sure. Through the chair, there are costs. It's interesting that you also mentioned the social costs. The canal virtually bisects our community, almost on a one-third, two-third basis of the urban portion. We have a very large rural portion on the east side of the canal. That'

Transport committee  The question about communication is really important, and we all need to have a seat at the table. I understand that the province is responsible for provincial highways in Ontario. When you look at Niagara as a whole, when you look at it on a map, as the member described, or you

Transport committee  Through the chair, I think the number one priority for Niagara is the highway connectivity of the mid-peninsula corridor. That's what is going to get our products and people into the national supply chain. The second priority to me would be unlocking economic development lands.

Transport committee  At this point, we haven't. We would like to work through our local MP, who happens to be a committee member, to have those discussions. The prevailing reason that we haven't is that we are not the owner of the land. So far, we can't make an application, but we've lobbied on behal

Transport committee  It's been a very informal conversation up until now. The seaway has taken the position that they would be more than willing to make the investment, if they had secured a long-time lessee, which makes sense to me from a business perspective, but we've had a lot—

Transport committee  It would be some kind of an industrial operator that relies on the seaway for shipping. This is prime canal-side industrial real estate, where somebody who is in the business of moving product through the canal and the upper and lower lakes would come in and set up shop. The seaw

Transport committee  Through the chair to the member, my understanding is that there are Transport Canada lands and seaway lands. They are owned, I guess, by the federal government, but they are part of what the seaway manages in the management of the corporation. In my own words, the issue is that

Transport committee  I have discussions with the St. Lawrence Seaway staff.