Evidence of meeting #38 for National Defence in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vessels.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
5:20 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Thank you.
The Louis S. St-Laurent was commissioned in 1969, I believe. I think it was recently suggested that it would be decommissioned in four to six years. But I understand you're going to have to maintain it, because the new one, the new polar, won't be coming online until 2022. What will it cost to extend and how long will you be able to extend the Louis S. St-Laurent?
Then I want to go back to my question on the AOPS in terms of vessels. Will you be training the people who will be operating these vessels in the Arctic? Or will you be operating them yourselves?
My final question has to do with the Bell helicopters and when we can expect those to be available.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Commisioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I'll start very generally and I'll ask Greg to supplement. The Coast Guard is planning to spend about $360.4 million over 10 years on a vessel life extension and mid-life modernization program. So that's not just on the polar; it's on all our fleet. This program was announced in February 2012 and consists of a set of interim measures to extend the life of Canadian Coast Guard vessels. It includes existing icebreakers, to ensure the continuity in service delivery of its current fleet, and anticipation of new vessels that are coming down the pipe. To date, we've spent about $30 million in terms of work that has been completed.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Excuse me. Sorry. I appreciate that, but that doesn't deal with my specific question and we don't have much time, so maybe I'll ask Mr. Lick.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Commisioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Greg could give you the details about the polar, if we have it. As I said at the beginning, we're not the vessel procurement experts from the Coast Guard.
5:25 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Certainly what I would say is that we've committed to ensure that the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and the rest of the fleet is in...and we put money into it in order to extend their lives until they're renewed. I don't have the number with me, but I think we can commit to getting that back to you.
5:25 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The AOPS project is obviously a project on which we've been working closely with the Royal Canadian Navy. I would say in particular that we've had recent exchanges in the Arctic, where we have Royal Canadian Navy navigation officers who come on board our vessels and work with our officers aboard in terms of gaining expertise in icebreaking, ice knowledge, ice observation, and all the elements they will need to safely navigate in the Arctic.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
The last question was on the Bell helicopters. I had a meeting last spring with the public works folks, and there was some question about the capacity of these helicopters to do what the Coast Guard wants them to do. I wondered if you could just tell me sort of where that's at.
5:25 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Certainly with respect to the current light helicopter contract that was announced earlier on in the year, we are currently in a contract with Bell Helicopter in Montreal to produce the 15 light helicopters that we contracted for. They're in production. They absolutely meet our requirements in terms of the capabilities we asked for in the bid process, and we're confident that they'll be delivered on time and on budget. We have no issues with respect to that contract.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Are there other helicopters involved in that particular tender?
5:25 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
No, I think you would have seen that, following the contracting, there was a separate process to look at our medium helicopters. That process is ongoing, and that announcement has not yet been made.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Okay.
So the capacity in the north now, as far as you're concerned, to be able to meet search and rescue needs is that you have the assets you need.
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Commisioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The answer is yes, but as I said earlier, if traffic increases over time, at some point in the future we're going to have to look at it. But yes, currently we feel that we have.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
How much of an increase would that be; is there a threshold?
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Commisioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That's a good question.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
You talked to Ms. Murray about 50% not being anything in particular to worry about, the 250 to 350. So what—
5:25 p.m.
Deputy Commisioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That's something we're going to have to look at in the future, but at the current moment we feel we have what we need.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Peter Kent
I will exercise the chair's prerogative to ask just a couple of final questions. You touched on it, and at our last meeting Vice-Admiral Norman spoke to the changes and considerations with regard to crewing aboard Coast Guard vessels in the future. You've addressed that somewhat here today, but are the facilities on the existing and new icebreakers being designed, in terms of the temporary renovations or refits on the current vessels and on the new one, to accommodate a permanent presence by Royal Canadian Navy personnel?
5:30 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Chair, I think I understand your question. In terms of the requirements for the new icebreakers when they eventually come—and the government does intend to fund them—we would look at it with our partners. So as part of that, when we develop our requirements, like the navy does, we consult with the partners on what their requirements might be. In terms of the polar, as an example—and I talked about that earlier—we did talk to our various marine security partners in this case and asked them what their requirements are. To be honest, I don't have that kind of detail in front of me, but we can get back to you in terms of the polar characteristics, maybe with respect to what berths are available on board.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Peter Kent
But certainly the Department of National Defence, more specifically the navy, seems to consider the Coast Guard as the first responder increasingly in the future, and there will have to be, built on your current work with the RCMP in southern waters, certainly an increased presence aboard your vessels by Royal Canadian Navy personnel.
5:30 p.m.
Director, Operations Support, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I do remember the number now off the top of my head. Certainly with the polar, it has a capacity for approximately 100 personnel on board. In fact, the crew is only about half of that. That extra berth availability on board is meant for a variety of missions, whether it's for scientific or security missions or environmental response. It could be a whole range of missions. Certainly there is extra capacity on board to handle those types of missions.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Peter Kent
Thank you very much, both of you, Deputy Commissioner Bouffard and Director Lick, for being with us today. We look forward to continued updates as the new vessels approach launch.
I would just remind members that our next meeting is scheduled to hear the minister taking questions with regard to the supplementary estimates. We will advise you of the location of that meeting. The clerk assures me that it will be in Centre Block. We'll see you on Tuesday.
This meeting is adjourned.