Transport Committee on May 21st, 2024

Evidence of meeting #115 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Main Estimates 2024-25: Vote 1 under Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Vote 1 under Canadian Transportation Agency, Votes 1, 5 and 10 under Department of Transport, Vote 1 under Marine Atlantic Inc., Votes 1, 5 and 10 under Office of Infrastructure of Canada, Vote 1 under The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited, Vote 1 under The Jacques-Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc., Vote 1 under VIA HFR – VIA TGF Inc., Vote 1 under VIA Rail Canada Inc. and Vote 1 under Windsor-Detroit Bridge Author

MPs speaking

Xavier Barsalou-Duval

Also speaking

Kelly Gillis Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL

Ms. Gillis, you mentioned the disaster mitigation fund. That's extremely important to the rural coastal communities where I live in Newfoundland and Labrador, in Bonavista—Burin—Trinity. We have many small fishing communities and towns that are vulnerable, and exposed coastlines that have been ravaged by some of these storms, so that's extremely important going forward.

I'd also like you to share with the committee how programs like the green and inclusive community buildings program are benefiting Canadians across the country. Maybe you have a specific investment that is particularly impactful that you might want to share with the committee.

1:20 p.m.

Deputy Minister, Office of Infrastructure of Canada

Kelly Gillis

With regard to the importance of community services and community hubs, whether it's providing health services or areas where people and kids can gather and play sports, especially in our rural communities where it often is a focal point for the community, that particular program has been able to help a number of communities across the country with those investments.

I don't have an example right at hand right now, but we have a map on our website that showcases all of the investments within that particular program with a lot of details of what the overall project values are, what our funding is and the status of each of the projects.

May 21st, 2024 / 1:20 p.m.

Liberal

Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL

Thank you very much for that.

As a former member of the FCM in four previous years, I really appreciate the focus our government has put on developing infrastructure funds to support municipalities and communities across the entire country, because it's crucially important that we maintain the infrastructure in these many small rural communities.

Just last week, for example, I was able to announce a couple of projects under the housing accelerator fund for the towns of New-Wes-Valley and Port Rexton. It was for a total of around $1.4 million to allow these towns to put in the infrastructure and do the planning and strategizing needed for future housing developments in their communities.

These are small rural communities. I know that sometimes it gets frustrating, because these are small communities, but these are the communities that provided the leadership. They are municipalities that filled out the applications, and they were successful in this case. I truly appreciate that, because there are 256 small communities in the riding that I represent. To have a couple of these acknowledged, as small as they are, is truly appreciated.

Again, on these infrastructure programs, I'd encourage you to keep the focus on that as we go forward, particularly for small rural communities.

Mr. Chair, I'm not sure if there's time left, but I just wanted to make those comments.

1:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke

We appreciate those comments, Mr. Rogers. You even got a “Hear, hear!” from the room. I wanted to share that with you, sir.

Unfortunately, the time is up.

Colleagues, I do see that the bells are ringing for a vote. Before we adjourn, colleagues, we do have some quick housekeeping.

First, do I have unanimous consent to vote on the main estimates in one motion?

I see no objection, so we will proceed.

CANADIAN AIR TRANSPORT SECURITY AUTHORITY

Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$1,194,373,969