Canada’s major seaports, on the East and West Coasts and on the Great Lakes, are governed and managed by federal port authorities. The Canada Marine Act, which took effect in January 1999, created a National Ports System that now consisting of 19 independently managed Canada Port Authorities (CPAs). In 2003, CPAs accounted for accounted for 58% of the international trade, 36.4% of the domestic trade, and 100% of the container traffic handled by Canadian ports . Unlike their U.S. counterparts, Canadian port authorities are for the most part prohibited from engaging in in activity unrelated to their maritime functions such as airport, rail or toll bridge operations. CPAs are also required to be financially self-sufficient and must pay be a tax or dividend to the national government. They are subject to rigorous disclosure requirements as well.
Many other ports that previously were owned and managed by the federal transport agency, Transport Canada, have been transferred, or "divested" to provincial and municipal entities or to the private sector.
As of March 31, 2006, Transport Canada had transferred, deproclaimed (to revoke the designation of a port as a public facility) or terminated its interest at 466 of the 549 sites identified at the outset of the program. The agency claims that the process "has saved Canadian taxpayers more than $210 million, and accounts for 85 per cent of Transport Canada’s public port inventory." Only 83 ports remained to be divested as of that date.
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