TRAN Committee Report

Supplementary Report from Conservative Members

Conservative Members of the Standing on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) would like to thank the Committee, its Clerk, Analysts and staff, the witnesses that shared valuable insights, and the Ports of Montreal, Halifax, St. John’s, Hamilton and Prince Rupert for hosting members of the committee to better understand the challenges facing Canada’s Ports.

While the Conservative Members support the general direction of this report, we would like to register opposition to two of the report’s Recommendations in this Supplementary Report.

1. We believe that the word “binding” in Recommendation 3 is problematic.
   Firstly, Ports are already punching above their weight in environmental performance. Furthermore, setting binding emissions targets and reporting regimes adds red tape at a time when Canada’s supply chains are already stretched.   We would also point out that the Government of Canada is failing to meet its own emissions targets year after year so to impose a binding targets on Ports is disingenuous.
2. We believe Recommendation 6 on Port Authority Board composition pre-empts this Committee’s forthcoming review of Bill C-33 which includes provisions on Port governance.  To include a prescriptive recommendation of inclusion of one stakeholder group and not others on Port Authority Boards as a Recommendation of this report is pre-mature. That discussion is best reserved for when Bill C-33 comes before Committee.