Thank you. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not sure that we could have that much certainty about this. I am saying this because normally when things are being collected for the government it is usually in Finance or some number crunchers or in that collection or that sort of area. So I guess I want to know if there is any current regime in the Department of Transportation that does similar work and if that is not the case then should we be expecting some additional expenditures to accommodate that?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, we have a fairly complex system right now of collecting all sorts of charges and fees from heavy traffic. That includes the motor fuel tax, permits, licence fees and other things. This does not require the creation of a whole new regime. There is one in place in the department already. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, while there might be a position there already doing similar work, but they will be taking on new work because we are talking about a bridge, a totally new project, raising enough money to pay for a $55 million cost over a number of years, so we are adding new duties and responsibilities to whatever is existing. So I would like to ask the Minister whether or not we should be looking at any additional resources that are required to take on this extra task? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, we have agreements with common carriers and other traffic. We have a compliance branch. We have accounting people. So there already is a system in place. This is just one more thing that we will be collecting money on. It is not a very onerous load onto whatever we have. It is the number of trucks that are travelling over that bridge are the same ones that we are collecting other fees from. We do not anticipate any additional costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Clause 7.

Page 5, clause 8.

Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the same purpose that I had stated earlier, I would like to read section 8 because I don't know if the Minister would like to read in the section 8 for the record, so I would, Mr. Chairman. Section 8, subsection (1), the Minister may appoint transport officers to enforce this act and the regulations. Subsection (2), a person appointed by the Minister as a motor vehicles officer under subsection 3.18(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act is by virtue of that office a transport officer under this act. Subsection (3), a Member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is by virtue of that office a transferred officer under this act. I have a question for the Minister. What exactly is the duty and responsibility of transport officers? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the duty of the transport officers is inspections and compliance, but if you want more detail I will ask Mr. Vician to give a more detailed description of their job.

Ms. Lee, does that answer your question or would you like...

I would appreciate more details. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Vician.

Thank you, Mr. Vician. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Should we be expecting to see any need for an increase in our number of transport officers for their duties being expanded as a result of this bridge being in operation? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

No, Mr. Chairman. As I said earlier, there is no anticipated need for any additional people. Thank you.