Starting in December 1994, the House of Commons of Canada's Standing Committee on Transport initiated a study of Canada's marine transportation sector. After consultations across the country, the Committee produced its "National Marine Strategy" in May 1995. In December 1995, the Government of Canada announced a new "National Marine Policy" to reform the governance of ports, harbours and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The plan was to modernize the system, and divest the government of port operations and make the financially self-sufficient where possible. At the time, there were 2,700 ports under federal government authority. The vast majority were reclassified as regional or local. Under the divestiture, the government was to offer the Transport Canada harbours to other federal departments, then provinces and territories, and finally to industries or municipalities. Similar divestitures had taken place previously in the field of airport management.