The committee was studying the role of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in maritime container clearance and port security, hearing from retired police chief Neil Dubord, professor Jean-Paul Rodrigue, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation vice-president Serge Auclair, Desgagnés Transarctik president David Rivest, QSL International CEO Robert Bellisle, and St. Lawrence Shipoperators CEO Saul Polo.
Neil Dubord, a retired police chief, testified that transnational organized crime has weaponized Canada's port system, with only 1-2% of outbound containers inspected and under 20% of port workers holding security clearances, allowing gang members to operate inside ports. He recommended a permanent integrated policing task force with a visible uniformed presence, private sector augmentation for pre-screening cargo, mandatory universal security clearances for all port workers, and a $5 per-container levy to sustainably fund these measures, generating over $30 million annually.
Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor at Texas A&M, argued that Canadian east coast container port traffic is stagnant, with Montreal not having recovered to its 2019 peak, and that only 18-19% of containers handled by Canadian ports are bound for the United States. He cautioned that a "cleared once, accepted twice" model for cross-border container movement would face challenges due to the need for customized facilities with U.S. inspection authority, and that the St. Lawrence system's draft constraints limit its competitiveness as a U.S. gateway.
Serge Auclair, from the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, stated that the seaway operates at only 50% capacity and that enabling containerized traffic at Great Lakes and St. Lawrence ports would bring significant economic and environmental benefits. He noted that U.S. Great Lakes ports like Cleveland and Duluth already have or will soon have container-clearing capacity, and recommended that CBSA extend container-clearing services to additional Canadian ports such as Quebec City and Hamilton to ease highway congestion and diversify trade.
David Rivest, president of Desgagnés Transarctik, described how his company's Valleyfield port, which has security and customs foundations in place, cannot receive international containers due to the lack of a clear CBSA operating model for medium-sized ports. He cited a recent case where a vessel had to unload 10 containers in Montreal before proceeding to Valleyfield, and requested that CBSA undertake a formal implementation assessment for Valleyfield to define a compliant, risk-based, and proportionate solution.
Robert Bellisle, CEO of QSL International, testified that CBSA currently limits maritime container clearance to only five Canadian ports, and that since 2023, the agency has stopped allowing on-site clearance using mobile radiation units at other terminals. He gave the example of his Bickerdike terminal being forced to turn away a vessel whose cargo ultimately discharged in Baltimore, and urged faster implementation of federal port infrastructure programs and expansion of CBSA services to the Port of Québec to ease congestion and improve supply chain reliability.
Saul Polo, CEO of St. Lawrence Shipoperators, argued that the St. Lawrence Seaway is operating at less than half its 1979 capacity because CBSA's monopoly on clearance services systematically rejects requests from regional ports, creating a structural problem. He recommended that CBSA deploy mobile customs clearance units and allow transshipment of uncleared containers to secondary ports for final clearance, estimating that opening new points of service could process over 330,000 additional containers and generate $131 million annually in economic value.
Several witnesses disagreed with Rodrigue's assessment that there is limited market potential for containers on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system. Polo, Bellisle, and Rivest argued that the demand exists but is blocked by CBSA's inflexibility, with Rivest noting that an international shipowner asked him this week when Valleyfield would receive authorizations because there is immediate demand. Bellisle added that the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes corridor is the third-largest economy in the world, making a business case feasible if regulatory barriers are removed.
The committee heard no procedural debate, motions, or votes during this meeting.
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