Location: Canada
Issue/Source: Committee appearance
Date: March 10, 2023
Suggested Responses
- The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) is seeking access to $561,429,271 in planned spending authorities. With this funding, CATSA will continue to provide screening of persons who access aircraft or restricted areas through screening checkpoints, the property in their possession or control, and the belongings and baggage that they give to an air carrier.
- Marine Atlantic Inc. (MAI) is seeking access to $189,617,507 in planned spending authorities. The funds will serve to cover a portion of the operating shortfall and capital requirements to deliver Marine Atlantic Inc.’s constitutionally mandated ferry service between the Island of Newfoundland and Canada’s mainland.
- The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited is seeking access to $7,381,000 to ensure the continued safe operation of the bridges in its portfolio – the Blue Water Bridge, the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, the Seaway International Bridge and the Thousand Islands International Bridge – which are important international crossings connecting Canada to the United States.
- VIA Rail Canada Inc. (VIA Rail) is seeking access to $1,233,649,830 in planned spending authorities. The funds will enable VIA Rail to continue operating national passenger rail services, on behalf of the Government of Canada, from coast to coast to coast, in a manner that is safe, accessible, efficient, reliable, sustainable and environmentally friendly.
If Pressed
- The Government of Canada is committed to a Canadian Air Transport Security Authority that is sufficiently funded.
- The Government of Canada is committed to helping Marine Atlantic deliver a safe, reliable, and cost-efficient ferry service to visitors and residents, which is why capital funding has been provided for, among other projects, the construction of a new administration building in the town of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland which is scheduled for completion in summer 2024.
- The Government of Canada is committed to help cover the operating shortfall and critical capital needs of the Federal Bridge Corporation Limited and its subsidiary, the Seaway International Bridge Corporation, whose revenues have declined significantly because of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
- The Government of Canada is committed to modernizing intercity passenger rail services in a way that will best meet the transportation needs of travellers, while also creating jobs and economic growth.
Background Information
- The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) is an agent Crown corporation with the mandate to protect the public by securing critical elements of the air transportation system as assigned by the Government of Canada. CATSA’s priority is to maintain stable screening operations. CATSA’s annual appropriation has historically been insufficient to fund CATSA’s full year operations. As such, incremental funding for CATSA is considered necessary for CATSA to sustain its operations. Future supply periods, such as Supplementary Estimates (A) 2023-24, could provide an opportunity to flow additional funding to CATSA.
- In 2022, a three-year funding decision allocated funding to Marine Atlantic Inc. (MAI) to cover the remainder of its operating and capital shortfall in 2023-24. Additional funds in Budget 2019 (new vessel) and a 2020 funding decision (new administrative building in Port-aux-Basques), contribute to the 2023-24 Main Estimates figure.
- The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL), a parent Crown corporation, is responsible for oversight of Canadian federal interests at four international bridges in Ontario: Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward; Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie; Seaway International Bridge in Cornwall; and Thousand Islands International Bridge in Lansdowne. In 2022, a three-year funding decision allocated $30,607,000 in COVID-19 relief funding to FBCL to sustain the operations of its subsidiary, the Seaway International Bridge Corporation, and to invest in critical maintenance and repair projects across its four bridges, of which the Corporation is seeking access to $7,381,000 in the 2023-24 Main Estimates. Prior to the pandemic, FBCL normally received funding for major infrastructure investments, not for day-to-day operations and regular maintenance and repairs.
- Operating funding is required for VIA Rail’s general provision of national passenger rail services across Canada and investments that will improve fluidity. Capital funding includes regular funds to keep VIA Rail’s assets in a state of good repair, as well as investments in modernization and improved connectivity, including fleet renewal in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.