Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What are the functions of the transport officers doing now without having the bridge in place?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vician just explained what the duties were, but I will...

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry. I do recall that that question was asked, so another question I have here is on subsection (3). It says that a Royal Canadian Mounted Police could be a transport officer under this act. So I would like to ask the Minister what is the need of this section is and in what circumstances would an RCMP officer be appointed a transport officer?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The RCMP have all the same duties under the Motor Vehicles Act as do our transport officers, so this would be an additional duty for them as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Given the purpose and the nature of this legislation, which is to facilitate the building and operation of the Deh Cho Bridge, would we be envisioning an RCMP officer collecting tolls or watching the people going on the bridge? Is that the kind of work that a layperson could envision an RCMP officer doing? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no, we would not have an RCMP officer there collecting tolls or anything like that. The RCMP will have the powers to enforce this legislation and other pieces of the Motor Vehicles Act as they do right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. But with all due respect, Mr. Chairman, I do believe we are talking about different things here. I mean, of course it is reasonable to assume that the RCMP would be enforcing this legislation like they would any other legislation that we pass that is under their authority, but in this case we are passing this legislation to say that the RCMP is a transport officer for the purpose of this officer and those are very specific duties for transport officers that are separate and apart from what we would normally assume are duties of RCMP. So I believe my question was not whether or not the RCMP would enforce this legislation. I accept that as a fact. But what role would an RCMP officer play in their role as a transport officer under this act as set out in this subsection? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, as we all know, the RCMP have appointments as ex-officio officers under a lot of our legislation, whether it is the Motor Vehicles Act, the All-Terrain Vehicles Act and so on. That is an appointment that is there in the event that they have to enforce some violation of the legislation that they have the authority to do that. It is a very common practice. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

But, Mr. Chairman, that still tells me that this is a common practice. It is done in every other legislation. But it does not tell me exactly what the RCMP might be called to do. I am told that they would not be involved in collecting tolls or something like that, but I am not with the Department of Transportation. I do not run into a transport officer on a daily basis. The description of a transport officer is pretty vague and I am wanting to know what it is that the duties of a transport officer the RCMP might be called upon to do. I think there is a little bit of infusion about whether or not, I guess what the Minister is saying is then, they are putting the RCMP section here that would allow that RCMP or an RCMP officer to become a transport officer for this section just in case they have to do something that a transport officer would do under this act. So that still begs the question, what is it that the... Can I just get an everyday example of what a transport officer does that an RCMP officer might be called upon to do? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.

Mr. Chairman, if someone were to choose to violate or not comply with the provisions in this act, then through this appointment the RCMP would have the authority to charge the person or enforce the act. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Clause 8.

Clause 9. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, clause 9 reads that a person who contravenes this act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. Could I get the Minister to tell us as to, under the calculations that we have and that we are proposing, under the toll system based on the tonnage of vehicles, what would a regular truck that we know of, because I am not an expert in the trucking industry either and I could not tell you the difference between one truck and another, but I guess I could tell the sizes of them. So could I get the Minister to, for the interest of the public to know, what would be the typical toll of a freight truck? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Handley.