Transport committee  We are looking at land within the federal portfolio that is currently underutilized. We believe we could bring it within our purview and activate it for industrial uses. We're also looking at lands that are maybe not directly on the water, but may function as inland ports. I think this should be contemplated within the Canada Marine Act.

Transport committee  Thank you, MP Badawey. We are certainly pleased to be serving the communities of Hamilton, Oshawa and Niagara. Over the past couple of years, we have brought those communities and the assets in them together as a port network so that we can provide innovative service and better allocate the infrastructure, the transportation and trade infrastructure throughout the greater Golden Horseshoe in response to the needs of this very unique part of the country, the manufacturing heartland and a rapidly growing population centre.

Transport committee  I think I had said mostly what I had wanted to say there. We really do need to think about the Great Lakes as a gateway to the heartland of southern Ontario and the manufacturing supply chains that run through there. It very much is a gateway that is essential to some of the most critical industries in Ontario, namely, manufacturing, construction and agriculture.

Transport committee  Last summer, our local partner, Hamilton container terminal, started a trial moving containers from Montreal to Hamilton. That's a unique sort of activity in Canada. There is also a trial, a similar service, running out of the port of Cleveland, but it's a new thing to be moving containers in the Great Lakes.

Transport committee  Absolutely. We are, of course, very internationally oriented. A good portion of our commodities move overseas. Whether it be inbound steel or other materials, or outbound Canadian grain exported primarily to Europe, we definitely see the need for the Great Lakes to be considered when a—

Transport committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It's my pleasure to be here today to discuss actions to build sustainable, resilient supply chains in Canada. The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority, or HOPA Ports, is the largest integrated port network on the Great Lakes, with ports and marine facilities in Hamilton, Oshawa and Niagara.