The National Harbours Board was an agency of the Government of Canada, reporting to Parliament through the Minister of Transport. It was in operation from 1936 to 1983.
The idea of a system of national ports was mooted as early as 1905, when it was first recommended in a report by the Royal Commission of Transportation. [1] Although not acted upon at the time, [2] the idea gained more acceptability over time, and the later National Ports Survey by Sir Alexander Gibb in 1932 laid the groundwork for its eventual establishment. [2]
The Board was established in 1936, [3] The public harbours at Halifax, Saint John, Chicoutimi, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Montreal and Vancouver, previously constituted as separate bodies corporate, were dissolved and their property vested in the Board, and provision was made for the possibility of other "harbours and works and other property of the Dominion of Canada" to be transferred to the Board at a later date. [4]
In 1983 it was replaced by the Canada Ports Corporation. [5] This devolved much of the National Harbour Board's former functions to local port authorities maintaining responsibility for ensuring that overall national transportation objectives are met, [6] as well as overseeing the Ports Canada Police until that service was disbanded in 1997.
Transportation in Canada, the world's second-largest country in total area, is dedicated to having an efficient, high-capacity multimodal transport spanning often vast distances between natural resource extraction sites, agricultural and urban areas. Canada's transportation system includes more than 1,400,000 kilometres (870,000 mi) of roads, 10 major international airports, 300 smaller airports, 72,093 km (44,797 mi) of functioning railway track, and more than 300 commercial ports and harbours that provide access to the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans as well as the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. In 2005, the transportation sector made up 4.2% of Canada's GDP, compared to 3.7% for Canada's mining and oil and gas extraction industries.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland as Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. The seaway is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie, and includes the Welland Canal.
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of King George III. The port is Canada's third largest port by tonnage with a cargo base that includes dry and liquid bulk, break bulk, containers, and cruise. The city was the most populous in New Brunswick until the 2016 census, when it was overtaken by Moncton. It is currently the second-largest city in the province, with a population of 67,575 over an area of 315.96 km2 (121.99 sq mi).
Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The airport is often referred to as Toronto Island Airport and was previously known as Port George VI Island Airport and Toronto City Centre Airport. The airport's name honours Billy Bishop, the Canadian World War I flying ace and World War II Air Marshal. It is used by civil aviation, air ambulances, and regional airlines using turboprop planes. In 2018, it was ranked Canada's ninth-busiest airport, and the sixth-busiest Canadian airport that serves the U.S.
The following list outlines the structure of the Government of Canada.
Jean-Luc Pepin, was a Canadian academic, politician and Cabinet minister.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland waters. Its mandate includes responsibility for the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources while continuing to provide safe, effective and environmentally sound marine services that are responsive to the needs of Canadians in a global economy. The stated vision of the department is "Excellence in service to Canadians to ensure the sustainable development and safe use of Canadian waters."
Transport Canada is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities (TIC) portfolio. The current Minister of Transport is Omar Alghabra. Transport Canada is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario.
HMAS Kanimbla was a passenger ship converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship infantry during World War II. Built during the mid-1930s as the passenger liner MV Kanimbla for McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co, the ship operated in Australian waters until 1939, when she was requisitioned for military service, converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Kanimbla.
PortsToronto (PT), formerly known as the Toronto Port Authority (TPA), is responsible for the management of the harbour of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. It is a federally-incorporated agency, with directors appointed by three levels of government: the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and the City of Toronto government. The agency changed its name in 2015 to PortsToronto.
Iron Knob is a town in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula immediately south of the Eyre Highway. At the 2006 census, Iron Knob and the surrounding area had a population of 199. The town obtained its name from its proximity to large deposits of iron ore, most notably Iron Monarch which outcropped prominently from the relatively flat, surrounding landscape.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is a constitutional government principal department of the US state of Michigan. The primary purpose of MDOT is to maintain the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System which includes all Interstate, US and state highways in Michigan with the exception of the Mackinac Bridge. Other responsibilities that fall under MDOT's mandate include airports, shipping and rail in Michigan.
The Port of Halifax comprises various port facilities in Halifax Harbour in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It covers 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) of land, and looks after 150 km2 (58 sq mi) of water.
The United States Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C. that is responsible for the regulation of oceanborne international transportation of the U.S. It is chaired by Michael A. Khouri.
The Port of Montreal is a cruise and transshipment point located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international container port where it services Toronto and the rest of Central Canada, the U.S. Midwest, and the U.S. Northeast. Though found on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and found 1,600 kilometres inland from the Atlantic Ocean, it is the shortest direct route between Europe and the Mediterranean, with the North American midwest.
The Canada Atlantic Railway Company (CAR) was a historic North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa, ON. It was formed in 1897 through a merger of three separate railway companies that John Rudolphus Booth had either purchased or created, beginning in 1879. The CAR was owned by Booth for eight years after its formation until he sold it to the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) in 1904.
Canadian Crown corporations are corporations wholly owned by the Crown and most are agents of the Crown with each ultimately accountable, through a relevant minister, to Parliament for the conduct of its affairs. As a result, Crown corporations represent more broadly a specific form of state-owned enterprise owned by the Sovereign of Canada. They are established by an Act of Parliament and report to that body via the relevant minister in cabinet, though they are "shielded from constant government intervention and legislative oversight" and thus "generally enjoy greater freedom from direct political control than government departments."
The Toronto Harbour Commission (THC) was a joint federal-municipal government agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The agency managed Toronto Harbour as well as being responsible for major works along the Toronto waterfront. It built the Toronto Island Airport in 1939. The agency was founded in 1911 and operated until 1999 when the port operations were transferred to the new Toronto Port Authority (TPA), now PortsToronto.
The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA) is a port authority that controls the ports in both Hamilton and Oshawa in the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. It was created in 2019 when the Hamilton Port Authority and the Oshawa Port Authority were merged by the Government of Canada. The amalgamated port authority replaced the Oshawa Port Authority created in 2012 and the Hamilton Port Authority which succeeded the Hamilton Harbour Commission in 2001. The port of Hamilton, located in Hamilton Harbour, is Ontario's largest and among the busiest ports in Canada. Both ports are located on opposite ends of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
The Canada Ports Corporation was a port corporation which operated across Canada. An Act of Parliament, which had been promoted by Jean-Luc Pépin, founded it on 24 February 1983, and it was marked as a responsibility of the Minister of Transport. Additionally, Pépin enunciated the Harbour Commissions Act, under which a new National Ports Policy was launched. The Canada Ports Corporation was phased out in 1998 with the creation of the Canada Marine Act (CMA), an act ostensibly to modernize Canada's ports and harbors; prior to the implementation of the CMA, a National Marine Policy had been written in 1995 under the Ministry of Doug Young.