The recently announced proposed amendments to the Canada Marine Act (CMA) have been most welcomed by Canada's ports group. 'We have long argued that, while the Canada Marine Act has been good for Canada's major ports, changes such as those proposed by the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA), and now accepted by Government, were needed to ensure that ports were ready for the tremendous growth expected in trade over the next 15 years,' commented Sean Hanrahan, President and CEO, of the St. John's Port Authority and this year's Chair of ACPA.

The proposed amendments recognize the need for Port Authorities to be competitive by providing access to federal funding programs in the areas of infrastructure, security and environment; and a more streamlined process for property-related transactions. Further, revised borrowing powers and processes will soon be set out in a new 'code' which the ACPA looks forward to analyzing. These elements are critical for Port Authorities in the coming years as all ports continue to build new infrastructure in key gateways and trade corridors. 'These main amendments were specifically requested of Minister Cannon by ACPA, and we applaud him for his responsiveness in this regard,' said Hanrahan. Canada Port Authorities were commercialized pursuant to the CMA in 1999 and, since that time, the 19 Port Authorities have proven to be successful, self-sufficient, commercial enterprises operating under their own stream of revenues; with annual cargo handled at 280 million tons, having a value of more than $141 billion.

The amendments to the CMA are expected to be taken up by the Transport Standing Committee in the coming weeks. 'We are hopeful that this process will be productive in terms of expediting eventual amendments which will ensure that Canadian ports stay in step with other important federal initiatives related to infrastructure and trade corridor development,' said Hanrahan.