Transporation Networks & Gateways
Speech to the 2nd Annual Congress of the Canadian
Marine Pilots' Association link
Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, B.C.
April 22.2008

(Check Against Delivery)

Thank you for your kind introduction and this opportunity to join the Canadian Marine Pilots Association for your Second Congress. And as the Member of Parliament for Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, I want to extend my welcome to all of you who have come to Vancouver from other ports across Canada. Ports that, together, help build our competitiveness as a trading nation.

I have been asked by my colleagues, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade, to bring their greetings and best wishes for your Congress.

Plus tard cet après-midi, vous aurez l’occasion d’entendre Mme Kristine Burr, sous-ministre adjointe du groupe Politiques de Transports Canada. Je suis certain qu’elle saura vous renseigner plus en détail sur plusieurs des questions de transport que j’aimerais aborder ce matin.

Je sais aussi que David Emerson aimerait que je fasse une présentation importante en son nom. En plus de son rôle en tant que ministre du commerce international, David est également responsable des Jeux d’hiver de 2010. Et il veut s’assurer que je vous transmette son invitation à revenir ici pour les Jeux Olympiques. Ce seront les meilleurs Jeux Olympiques d’hiver de tous les temps!

This morning, I want to keep at a fairly high altitude in talking about the transportation and trade initiatives that will have an impact on your profession.

My message is the same theme that you have chosen for Congress 2008: we need an integrated marine community. In fact, I will go further: we need an integrated transportation system.

So let me tell you about how this Government is moving ahead on many transportation files, several of them that affect marine transportation directly.

Some of the initiatives are big ticket items that make the headlines. Others are of interest primarily to the marine community. But taken together, they demonstrate considerable momentum on issues that will affect marine transportation in the 21st century.

Among the big ticket items, I would list the importance of infrastructure funding as part of the Government’s Advantage Canada long-term economic plan.

In fact, we are currently engaged in delivering Canada’s biggest infrastructure program ever. The Building Canada Infrastructure Plan is $33-billion worth of investments in roads, public transit, gateways, trade corridors and border crossings. In fact, the plan provides the tools to modernize infrastructure right across Canada.

We are moving an amendment to the Canada Marine Act through Parliament, and the amendments will enable the Canada Port Authorities to tap into these investments, by making them eligible to apply for funding.

You need to go back to the years following the Second World War to find a similar commitment - the years when we built a national highway system, a national airports system, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

I think that future generations will look back on our time as a period of similar vision and growth. And I think that our greatest legacy may well be the way in which we combine infrastructure investments with other initiatives to create gateways and corridors.

Here in Vancouver, the most dramatic infrastructure investments are tied in with the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative. Since Prime Minister Harper launched the gateway in October 2006, we have announced over $2.3 billion in infrastructure projects.

The federal government’s share is about $860 million. We are getting a very significant leverage from the provinces and the private sector for this investment.

The Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor has a strong emphasis on infrastructure:  grade separations for road and rail, for example, and a new intermodal terminal in Prince Rupert.

But from the perspective of marine pilots, perhaps the most interesting aspects of the gateway and corridor initiative is the approach that it takes to non-infrastructure factors that help gateways compete.

For example, we amalgamated the Lower Mainland port authorities and we launched a fast-track consultation and planning process to speed up decision making.  Our gateway approach takes a look at the way we can improve the efficiency of a logistics system as a whole.

And when we improve the interconnection between various modes of transportation, for example, or when we increase the capacities of corridors, we benefit in many ways.

Not just more reliable transportation, but less noise, less pollution, and fewer greenhouse gases as well.

The Asia-Pacific Gateway was an idea that was being promoted for more than a decade, and we want to learn the lessons so we can replicate the successes.

Just as the closest North American port to the markets of China is Prince Rupert, the closest point of contact for ships coming through the Suez Canal is the east coast of Canada. And this government is moving ahead on an Atlantic Gateway Strategy.

We are also working on a strategy for the corridor and gateway that links Quebec, Ontario and the United States.

In July of last year, Minister Cannon announced, along with his colleagues from Ontario and Quebec, that a Memorandum of Understanding - or MOU - had been signed to develop the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor.

The MOU includes an action plan that will, among other things, examine key markets and trade opportunities. And it will target key initiatives for investment.

Our cooperative approach is helping to make this gateway and trade corridor a success. And through this we as a country can become more competitive.

Last month, the Brookings Institution in Washington released a study that underlined the enormous size of the market this gateway would serve.

If it stood alone as one country, the area made up of the states and provinces in the Great Lakes basin would be the second biggest economic unit in the world - larger than China, larger than Japan, and second only to the U.S. itself.[Note:1]

This alone would call for a gateway and corridor strategy for Ontario and Quebec, but we know that once such a corridor has been established, the benefits begin to expand outward.

We get networks, for example, where a port like Halifax can feed into the logistics chain to a distribution centre like Memphis.

That’s what is happening now, because of efficient rail service through the Ontario-Quebec corridor.

But when we look at the huge potential of an Ontario-Quebec gateway and corridor, one of the strategic advantages that we have not used to its full potential is marine transportation.

This point was brought home recently with the release of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway Study.

The study estimates that the waterways have the capacity to carry about twice the current volume. But to get there, we need to make better use of short-sea shipping.

In 2003, Canada and the United States signed the Memorandum of Cooperation and Declaration on ShortSea Shipping. Mexico was added in 2006. This is a good start, but we need to build on it to advance a North American ShortSea shipping agenda.

We need to integrate the Seaway system more closely with the road and rail transportation systems.

Our $33-billion Building Canada initiative includes potential long-term funding for ShortSea infrastructure, and we will continue to work with our American counterparts to reduce the regulatory hurdles.

It’s not just the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence corridor that will benefit. The entire transportation system in Canada will benefit if we can improve ShortSea shipping.

One of the recommendations of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway Study called for the need to reduce the negative ecological impacts caused by commercial navigation. The study suggests that the sustainable navigation strategy we have in place for the St. Lawrence River could be extended to the Great Lakes basin.

Marine transportation is one of the most energy-efficient modes, but we can improve upon it further. Regulations for water filtering systems are becoming more strict.

Both Canada and the U.S. are taking steps to control aquatic invasive species, and both our coast guards inspect to ensure that ships meet the requirements of ballast water regulations. We have close to 100 per cent compliance. Ports have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Green Award Foundation and are working to develop a Green Award Program for Canada.

The Government of Canada’s environment agenda includes an ecoFREIGHT program which provides $61 million over four years to address greenhouse gas and air pollution from the movement of goods. We fund demonstration of new technologies, fund the purchase and installation of proven technologies, and will examine the potential of marine shore power equipment in Canadian ports.

 Another major environmental issue arising from marine transportation is the impact on marine and shoreline habitat. These considerations have become much more important today than they were half a century ago.

Some of you may remember that it was 50 years ago this year that engineers removed one of the most notorious obstacles to navigation on the West Coat: the Ripple Rock. It was a spire between Vancouver Island and the Mainland that rose to within three metres of the surface. It was estimated that at least 114 people had died since 1875, as a result of ships goring their hulls on the rock.

 Well, half a century ago, the solution was to blast it out of there. Engineers dug a tunnel from the shore, and planted explosives under the rock. At the time, it was the biggest non-atomic explosion ever seen - or heard!

It’s reported that the people of Campbell River stacked dishes on the floor to prevent them from falling from the shock waves. The explosion was a success. Seymour Narrows became safe for ships.

 But can you imagine trying that today?  Can you imagine how long it would take to get the environmental assessment study? And let’s just assume, for a moment, that the study gave a green light: can you imagine the protests? You think we have dramatic confrontations over old growth forests! Imagine what would happen for old growth kelp!

 

  No, we need to find other ways to make the waters safe for navigation. Some of the methods involve better navigation technology. But perhaps the most important resource we have for safe and environmentally sound marine transportation is the skill and professionalism of our marine pilots - the training and the experience you have acquired over the years helps protect the environment.

 Pilots have an average of 15 years of maritime experience before they can qualify.  Many of you have served as ship’s captain or senior officer. You’ve gone through long apprenticeships, and you know every aspect of the waterway you pilot. And you maintain your training throughout your careers. As the techniques and navigational technology changes, you continue your lifelong learning.

 And in this way, you contribute your part to a logistics and transportation system that not only helps Canada compete in the global economy, you keep our transportation system environmentally sustainable for generations to come.

Mesdames et Messieurs, vous traiterez d’un grand nombre de questions et d’enjeux lors de votre deuxième congrès. Mais alors que vous prendrez la peine d’examiner en détail les questions de l’heure, j’espère que vous garderez les yeux sur l’horizon et que vous continuerez de tenir compte de la situation dans son ensemble.

And from where I stand, the picture shows a new era of growth and prosperity for marine transportation. Few industries are as vital to the success of today’s global economy. Few have more potential. This is a great time to be involved in marine transportation. And it is time for all partners and stakeholders to work together so that Canada’s strength as a trading nation continues to build on the strength of our marine transportation.

I wish you all an enjoyable and thought-provoking meeting.

Thank you.