Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank Mr. Barnes and Justice Wells for being here today.
Our goal is to make sure that this legislation is as good as possible. We want to make sure that no one dies in offshore work, that no family mourns. We've been endeavouring to ask you questions to ensure that we can get the kind of legislation that reflects really the utmost standards of safety.
Since we've had, and will have, witnesses who have raised the issue around your recommendation, Justice Wells, about the independent safety regulator, it's obvious that it's a key question for us. I wanted to come back to that, because I know my colleagues have been asking you.
It appears to me that when we talk about the most recent incident, the near crash, some might say that 38 feet is still 38 feet. But given the speed that any aircraft travels at, 38 feet is a very, very small margin of safety. It's fortunate that it didn't result in deaths.
The issue that Mr. Harris raised, around how that was then reported through the C-NLOPB, is an important one. We've also raised issues around the run-dry capability that the Transportation Safety Board has made clear recommendations on but which hasn't been enacted yet. The idea of having a 30-minute run-dry capability is something that hasn't been put into effect. We've asked some questions on that, and we haven't received a clear response on why that has not been put into effect.
It seems there are two discussions here, that of course we all support the bill, but at the same time, we have to make sure that we're talking about the utmost level of safety.
I guess I would come back to this issue of the independent safety regulator, since there seems to be some concern about whether the decisions that are being made are actually delivering the top level of safety possible.
Do you not think that your recommendation is still applicable today, that having in place an independent safety regulator allows us to ensure that there aren't other considerations that are being brought to bear when we talk about the safety of the workers in the offshore?