Jacques Gourde

“Mr. Speaker, over the past few years, Canadians have seen how events that are happening far from home can have a very real effect on our economy. A conflict on the other side of the world can disrupt the energy market. A lack of shipping capacity can drive up costs for our businesses. A disruption on a railway, on a highway or at a port can affect producers and consumers at both ends of the supply chain. In light of these circumstances, our government was elected on a clear commitment to strengthen Canada’s economic sovereignty. Our country must have the means to build bigger, stronger and faster. Our supply chains are the backbone of our economy. They rely not only on our ports, our railways and our roads, but also on the workers who keep them running every day. Strong supply chains are therefore critical to our government’s plan, a plan that seeks to double our exports to markets other than the United States, to build major projects and to attract more investors to Canada. Basically, Bill C-39 seeks to do one thing and that is strengthen our supply chains. It proposes a more holistic view of our transportation system. Today, we sometimes tend to look at the various components separately, whether it be a port, a railway, a highway or a border crossing. Bill C-39 would instead enable us to look at these infrastructure as different parts of a single trade network. The government could thus officially designate national trade corridors and establish performance measures for those corridors. In practical terms, that means tracking the movement of goods, identifying where delays are occurring, identifying capacity issues and measuring the performance of the entire network. Bill C-39 would also create a national trade corridors council. Its role would be to monitor the movement of goods, analyze disruptions, identify areas where the system can be improved and make recommendations to the Minister of Transport. Why does this matter? This matters because when we invest in our infrastructure, we want to invest in the right place. We want every investment to have the greatest possible impact. The reliability of our trade corridors has a very real impact. A congested port can mean additional costs for businesses. A lack of rail capacity can mean grain sitting in elevators rather than moving to markets. That is why the second major element of Bill C‑39 has to do with our ports. Canadian port authorities are critical to our supply chains. The bill would modernize their governance. It would also give them more trade and financial flexibility. This flexibility would allow them to invest, generate revenue and develop the infrastructure needed for trade. Bill C-39 also creates new indigenous advisory councils, since indigenous communities are essential partners in the development and operation of our transportation infrastructure. Bill C‑39 maintains the role of ports as non-profit organizations. It simply provides them with more opportunities for partnerships and capital projects. However, infrastructure is only part of the challenge. The other part is the regulatory system around it. Today, a business may have to provide similar information to several departments or agencies. That means a lot more forms, a lot more duplication and much higher administrative costs. Bill C‑39 would allow for better information sharing between authorized public government institutions. Our goal is simple: to reduce the administrative burden and make our processes more efficient. The bill would also promote paperless trade. It would recognize electronic transferable documents that meet international standards. This means simpler information sharing, less duplication and less paperwork. We need to build faster. Bill C‑39 also addresses project approval timelines. Bill C‑39 would create a transportation project office within Transport Canada. Its role would be to better coordinate federal authorizations and consultations for transportation projects. The goal is to provide a clearer federal pathway for priority infrastructure and to get projects from the application phase to the decision phase more efficiently. However, I want to be clear on this point. It is not about eliminating standards. It is about reducing duplication. It is not about removing consultation. Rather, it is about making the process more consistent and predictable, while upholding the standards that we are proud of as Canadians. Canada needs to be able to build faster while continuing to build responsibly. Lastly, Bill C-39 recognizes an incontrovertible reality: The resilience of our supply chains also depends on security. This bill would modernize Canada’s transportation security clearance framework. It would expand the roles to which these clearances can apply, improve risk assessment, strengthen information sharing and provide better tools for granting, denying, suspending or cancelling a clearance. The goal is simple: We need to respond more effectively to complex and ever-changing threats because security is essential to the resilience of our supply chains. Taken together, these measures offer a practical, coordinated approach to strengthening the economy and making it work better. We need to be able to move goods from farms to silos, from mines to ports, from factories to markets and from our communities to customers around the world. We need a transportation system that can keep pace with our investments and with the opportunities available to us. That means building our capacity, but also making better use of the capacity we already have. It means having the information we need to understand how our corridors work. It also means ensuring that our ports have the necessary tools and flexibility to grow. This means making sure that when we approve and build major transportation projects, we do so with the coordination and predictability that Canadians expect. That is why strengthening our supply chains is fundamentally about strengthening Canada’s economy. It is about building transportation capacity, improving coordination, strengthening our resilience and preparing Canada for the economy of today and the economy of tomorrow. That is how we are building Canada strong.”