Transport Committee on Nov. 27th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

I'm going to call our meeting to order.

I want to welcome all of our witnesses here. We appreciate that you are here today.

We have members here from the Department of Transport, from the Pacific Pilotage Authority Canada, and from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

We're going to go right into presentations. We'll start with the Department of Transport, for ten minutes or less, please.

Mr. Lachance.

[Sylvain Lachance, Executive Director, Legislative, Regulatory and International Affairs, Department of Transport]

Thank you, sir.

I'd like to thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss safety management systems in the marine sector and other measures to ensure marine safety.

Safety management systems, or SMS, are a useful means to manage risk that complements the statutory inspection and certification regime in Canada. The value of SMS lies in formally identifying rules, responsibilities, and procedures that ship operators must follow and associating these with specific targets.

In order to maximize the benefits, Transport Canada marine safety and security has for some time been consulting with marine stakeholders about proposed amendments to the existing safety management regulations. These regulations set out the current requirements for SMS in Canada’s marine sector.

The amendments focus on three key goals. First, we aim to reduce the number of shipping fatalities and injuries involving Canadian vessels. Second, we want to create the flexibility to adapt to evolving technologies in the marine industry. Third, we want to ensure that Canada’s regulatory regime is more closely aligned with international requirements.

In Canada, the requirement to have an SMS in place has applied since 1998 to vessels that engage in international voyages. However, these vessels make up only a fraction of the Canadian fleet. If we are to see the benefits of SMS, we need to apply them much more broadly, and that’s exactly what our proposed amendments to the existing safety management regulations aim to do. By making a greater number of vessels subject to the regulations, we will reach a much larger portion of our domestic fleet, ensuring that more vessels put these potentially life-saving measures into practice. For this reason, we intend to apply the regulations to all vessels 24 metres or more in length. This will allow us to standardize the implementation of SMS for vessels and their associated companies in Canada.

If adopted, the amendments will formalize safety procedures, require proper documentation of planned maintenance, assign responsibilities, and identify potential risks. This move would make the marine industry proactive in managing safety and fully integrating safety considerations into operations. It would also help bring about a culture of continuous improvement with respect to safety. The changes Transport Canada is proposing in no way compromise existing regulatory requirements relative to marine safety, such as those for inspection and certification of vessels. Instead, SMS are a separate requirement that complement and reinforce the safety requirements made under other regulations.

I would like to add that in developing these proposed amendments we have been mindful of the Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations. We have been careful to take the board’s concerns into account, and I believe we have found a workable solution that will meet our safety objectives by placing achievable, affordable requirements on industry. Adopting these proposed amendments to the safety management regulations would represent a significant step towards enhancing the safety of marine shipping in Canadian waters.

Over the past several years we have taken a series of measures with that goal in mind. Transport Canada administers a comprehensive marine legislative and regulatory system, the cornerstone of which is the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, to ensure that marine transportation is safe and efficient and that it protects the environment.

You will also be pleased to know that in pursuit of these objectives Transport Canada is moving forward with measures to ensure tanker safety. For example, these measures require oil tankers to be double-hulled and also set out how they are built, equipped, inspected, certified, and operated.

In addition, with the introduction of the world-class tanker safety system initiative, first announced in March 2013, the Government of Canada has further strengthened Canada’s marine oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response regime. Through measures such as expanding the national aerial surveillance program, introducing new aids to navigation, and increasing tanker inspections, we continue to support the safe transportation of the roughly 320 million tonnes of oil shipped off Canada’s coasts every year.

Additional measures announced last May include area response planning, which will establish new response plans in specific areas that have been identified as having higher vessel traffic.

Modernizing Canada's navigation system by moving towards an electronic system and investing in state-of-the-art technology is another priority area that has been identified. In the rare event that an oil spill should occur under world-class initiatives, the Government of Canada has established an incident command system to better coordinate response to marine spill incidents. We will also seek to amend legislation to permit the use of alternative spill response measures where this would have a net benefit on the environment.

Moving forward, we will continue to focus on the safety of marine transportation in this country for the protection of people and the environment.

Sir, I will now pass the mike to my colleague Nicole Girard.

[Nicole Girard, Director General, Transport Dangerous Goods, Department of Transport]

Thank you.

In addition to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, as mentioned by my colleague as being the cornerstone ensuring marine transportation is safe, efficient, and protects the environment, the transportation of dangerous goods in Canada is regulated under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and associated regulations. They're administered by Transport Canada's transport of dangerous goods directorate and establish the regulatory requirements for the importing, handling, offering for transport, and transport of dangerous goods by all modes—rail, road, air, and marine—within Canada.

These two pieces of legislation together cover the safe transport of dangerous goods. Compliance with both the TDG Act and the Canada Shipping Act and associated regulations is required as they apply. The TDG Act does not apply to dangerous goods confined only by the permanent structure of a vessel, for example, a tanker. The TDG regulations make reference to the International Maritime Organization's international maritime dangerous goods, or IMDG code, for certain requirements. This code was developed as a uniform international code for the transport of dangerous goods by sea, covering such matters as packing, container traffic and stowage, with particular reference to the segregation of incompatible substances. The TDG and marine safety and security directorates of Transport Canada have a memorandum arrangement that clarifies the roles and accountabilities in the administration and coordination of regulatory and oversight activities in the transport of dangerous goods by the marine mode. Transport Canada’s marine safety and TDG directorates have also established a joint process for reviewing applications for exemptions from the requirements stipulated under the cargo, fumigation and tackle regulations, and the TDG regulations.

In addition to marine safety inspections, a marine shipment of dangerous goods could be subject to a dockside TDG inspection. TDG inspections are performed at ports like Halifax and Vancouver, including inspections for shipments of dangerous goods moving to Canada’s north. As with other TDG inspections, inspectors will verify compliance with the TDG regulations, including use of proper means of containment, shipping documents, and classification. In cases where non-compliance is found, Transport Canada does not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action.

Emergency response assistance plans, or ERAPs, are an essential pillar for the transportation of dangerous goods program. An ERAP is a plan to ensure that there is an immediate and effective response to an actual or imminent release of dangerous goods. ERAPs are required by the transportation of dangerous goods regulations for certain high-risk dangerous goods that require specialized expertise and response equipment.

In the marine mode, an ERAP is required both for the loading of dangerous goods onto a vessel, as well as during the off-loading of dangerous goods from a vessel. An ERAP is not required while the vessel is in transit although requirements under the Canada Shipping Act would apply. International marine shipments are exempt altogether from the ERAP requirements. Instead, international marine shipments must comply with the requirements of the IMDG code.

Transport Canada provides immediate dangerous goods information and support following an incident via CANUTEC, our 24-hour emergency response centre. CANUTEC is staffed by bilingual professional scientists specialized in emergency response and experienced in interpreting technical information. CANUTEC advisers can provide advice to first responders in the case of an incident involving dangerous goods. In particular, for marine incidents involving dangerous goods, including a major oil or noxious substance spill, CANUTEC will provide technical assistance to callers, including first responders. Once a call is received, CANUTEC will advise the Canadian Coast Guard as well as notify a TDG marine safety inspector of the incident.

Between the robust requirements under the Canada Shipping Act and those in the TDG Act, and the work being done on the world-class tanker safety initiative, marine shipments of dangerous goods are moving safely, and in the rare event of an incident, there are measures in place for an effective response.

My colleagues and I would welcome now any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much.

We'll now move to the Pacific Pilotage Authority, Mr. Obermeyer, for 10 minutes, please.

[Captain Kevin Obermeyer, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Pilotage Authority Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak about marine pilotage and our SMS update.

I will give just a short overview of who we are to set the stage. The Pacific Pilotage Authority is a federal crown corporation operating pursuant to the Pilotage Act of 1972. Our mandate is to provide a safe and efficient marine pilotage service on the west coast of Canada on the basis of financial self-sufficiency. We do this by working in partnership with the shipping industry we serve, in order to protect and advance the interests of Canada.

The government oversees the operation of the authority through the publication of the corporate plan and annual report, both of which are submitted annually. In addition, the Office of the Auditor General conducts annual financial audits as well as special audits every five to ten years, where every facet of our operation is reviewed.

The minister overseeing our portfolio is the Honourable Lisa Raitt, MP, Minister of Transport. Transport Canada is a resource to our operations as well, and this includes providing assistance with the publication of our pilotage regulations and our tariff regulations, and in some instances operational issues.

On the public side, we have been engaged in community outreach programs for the last four years, speaking to municipalities and first nations in our areas of operation.

The marine pilots on the coast of B.C. are all masters in their own right, with many years of experience in the local waters, and we provide marine pilots to all vessels over 350 gross tonnes, which is about a 50-metre long vessel. Pilots are a resource to the master and the bridge team and provide them with expert local knowledge, and are responsible to the master for the safe navigation of the vessel while it is in compulsory pilotage waters. There are some exceptions to this, and they are the ferries, government vessels such as DND, and the coast guard.

Pilotage is a country's insurance against marine disaster. By placing a pilot on the vessel, you are ensuring that at least one member of the bridge team has an in-depth knowledge of the local dangers, is not fatigued, and is a knowledgeable resource in the event that something does occur. Lastly, the pilot adds an additional level of safety on the vessel.

Our area of operation extends from the Washington state border in the south to the Alaskan border in the north. As a rule of thumb, if you take two miles of every major point of land around the B.C. coast and join those together, that's our area of operation.

With respect to the carriage of dangerous cargo, we have developed guidelines and standards for many of the more difficult passages of the coast. When dealing specifically with tankers, there is always extensive consultation before any changes are made to an accepted practice. Recently we have broadened the scope of the guidelines for crude oil carriers over 40,000 dead-weight tonnes transiting Haro Strait and Boundary Pass—the area between Vancouver and Victoria, quite a narrow passage—to include all liquid build carriers over 40,000 dead-weight tonnes. This will capture many of the product carriers with multiple chemicals and hydrocarbon products as their cargoes.

With respect to safety management systems, SMS, over the past two years we have been engaged in putting in place an International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001 system in our dispatch office and an ISM, international safety management code system, on our launches. We are presently being audited by Lloyd's classification society and we fully expect to obtain certification by December of this year on both the ISM and ISO certifications.

Our two pilotage groups, eight employee pilots on the Fraser River and 100 contract pilots working for the private company, British Columbia Coast Pilots Ltd., are currently engaged in putting a safety management system in place, with the expected certification by December 2016.

With this in mind, we believe we have raised the level of safety for vessels carrying hazardous cargoes in the Vancouver area and will ensure that similar safety measures are in place for the many energy projects we presently see on our coast.

We are extremely proud of our safety record and regularly exceed a 99.9% success ratio. In 2013, we handled over 12,000 ships and had five incidents for a 99.96% success ratio. In the 20 years that I have been involved in shipping on the west coast, we have had only one oil pollution incident with a pilot on board. This occurred when a freighter was pushed back alongside the dock in a squall and a piece of metal punctured the hull right next to a daily service tank. If this had been a double-hulled tanker, we would have had no spill.

Our level of success is not achieved by chance. Our safety systems include a very stringent exam process, one of the most stringent a candidate will face. An enormous amount of time and money is spent on training to maintain these safety levels. On average we spend over a half a million dollars per annum, and in 2010, when we were engaged in amending the tanker requirements for the Vancouver harbour, we spent over $1.2 million in training the pilots.

In addition, all pilots, both senior and junior, have to attend a training establishment at least once every five years. This is, of course, over and above any training that is deemed necessary as a result of proposed changes or new projects such as the LNG we expect to see on the coast.

Nationally we work with the Canadian Marine Pilots' Association and our counterparts across the country in developing national initiatives that will further enhance the already high level of safety.

In closing, I believe that we offer an excellent service often exceeding our mandate to provide a safe and efficient marine pilot operation on the west coast of Canada, due largely to the procedures and practices that we have in place to minimize the risk. While we have not yet achieved that elusive 100% success ratio on the coast, we will continue working to achieve that goal.

Thank you. Those are my comments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much, Mr. Obermeyer.

We'll now move to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and we have Mr. Pelletier, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Hains. Who wants to take the floor? Mr. Hutchinson.

[Jeffery Hutchinson, Director General, National Strategies, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I will indeed. Thank you for the opportunity to appear this morning before the committee.

As the chair has already noted, my name is Jeffery Hutchinson. I'm the director general of national strategies for the Canadian Coast Guard. I'm joined today by Mr. Denis Hains, director general of the Canadian hydrographic service and by Mr. Mario Pelletier, our assistant commissioner for the central and Arctic region in the Canadian Coast Guard.

I'd like to take a couple of moments to speak to the mandate of the coast guard at a fairly general level and then focus in on our roles and responsibilities as they relate to the safe transportation of dangerous goods in a marine context. I'll also offer some general comments about the Canadian hydrographic service.

Regarding our mandate, I would like to remind you that the Canadian Coast Guard, unlike other federal departments and agencies, is not a regulatory organization. When the Coast Guard became a special operating agency within Fisheries and Oceans Canada in 2005, all of its regulatory services were transferred to Transport Canada.

The Coast Guard's mandate derives from the Constitution Act, 1867, which gives the Government of Canada authority over navigation, shipping, beacons, buoys and lighthouses. The Oceans Act and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, gave that mandate to Coast Guard programs. In addition, the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act confers on the Coast Guard responsibilities in relation to marine pollution responses in the Arctic.

What does all this mean in practice? On an average day, the Coast Guard saves 15 lives, assists 52 people in 27 search and rescue cases, manages 1,233 ship movements, carries out 11 fisheries patrols, supports 8 scientific surveys and 3 hydrographic missions, deals with 3 reported pollution events, and surveys 3.5 kilometres of navigation channel bottom.

Our colleagues and partners from the Canadian Hydrographic Service, or CHS, are part of the Ecosystems and Oceans Science Sector at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Their main role and mandate in navigational safety is documented in most of the acts and regulations applicable to the Coast Guard.

CHS is the official provider of charts, publications, data and services related to navigation in Canada. It supports safe navigation and sovereignty by ensuring the identification and precise positioning of all borders and boundaries of Canada's territorial waters.

Its nautical products and services include 944 paper charts, 967 electronic navigation charts, as well as a number of mandatory publications such as sailing directions, and information on tides and real-time water levels.

That summarizes the respective mandates of the Coast Guard and the Canadian Hydrographic Service.

I will now talk about the Coast Guard's activities and services that support the safe shipping of dangerous goods.

The roles of the Canadian Coast Guard supporting the safe transportation of dangerous goods can be grouped into three areas: prevention, preparation, and response. In covering each of these, I'll underscore where the recent announcements on the world-class tanker safety system augment our roles and responsibilities.

Let's begin with prevention. In our view, safe shipping is important irrespective of the cargo being carried, and the Canadian system, as you know, is second to none. Working in partnership with Transport Canada, the shipping industry, and others, the objective for shipping is to ensure that it is both safe and efficient.

The coast guard's role in safe and efficient shipping includes the provision of aids to navigation. The coast guard deploys more than 17,500 aids to navigation, including buoys, radio towers, lights, foghorns, and radio beacons. The coast guard also maintains a differential global positioning system, which adds better accuracy as well as monitoring to traditional GPS. We provide marine communications and vessel traffic services which, taken together, provide distress and safety call monitoring, broadcast maritime safety information, such as weather and navigational warnings, and information and advice to regulate traffic movements. Indeed, I'm talking about the communications backbone of the Canadian Coast Guard. It supports a healthy economy, safety of life at sea, and protection of the environment through traffic management and efficient movement of shipping.

We provide icebreaking services. The coast guard supports economic activity by assisting commercial vessels to navigate efficiently and safely through and around ice-covered waters. In addition, the coast guard provides ice information, routing advice, flood control, harbour breakouts, and vessel escorts through ice-infested waters. The focus of icebreaking operations are on the east coast, in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River system in the winter and, of course, in the Arctic during the summer.

We also provide waterways management services. The coast guard helps to ensure safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible design, maintenance, and use of ship channels and marine structures. It provides channel safety information to mariners. With respect to waterways management services, there is significant harmonization of our efforts with the efforts of the Canadian hydrographic service because hydrographers are the experts in hydrographic surveying and in the production of charts and publications that describe the waterways to end users, the mariners.

All of these areas are key elements of prevention and contribute significantly to ensure Canada's marine navigation system remains safe and efficient. As part of the government's commitment to ensure a world-class safety system on the water, it announced in May 2014 its intent to modernize Canada's marine navigation system. Specifically, this announcement includes modernizing navigation through the provision of more electronic navigation charts and digital information that can be integrated into vessel systems in real time. It includes the implementing of leading-edge tools and technology to support the collection and sharing of data to mariners, like “smart” environmental weather buoys and year-round lighted buoys on the St. Lawrence shipping channel. It also includes increasing the number of ships that would have the automated identification system, which allows ships to communicate with shore and with each other their own positions, increasing marine safety. None of this will happen overnight, but it all builds on the solid foundation that's already in place.

I would turn your attention now to preparedness. Notwithstanding our extensive efforts and the efforts of our partners on the prevention side, we cannot, and do not, ignore the preparedness side. Measures put in place by the coast guard allow us to deal with marine incidents in many forms. We have personnel across the country who are trained in environmental response and they're equipped to respond as needed. We have a life-cycle asset plan that ensures our vessels and assets are maintained. Our levels of service have been thoughtfully and realistically designed, they're widely communicated, and mariners use them to plan accordingly.

Coast guard planning and preparedness initiatives are not carried out in isolation. We consult with mariners and industry, fishers, and recreational boaters. For example, we meet twice a year with industry stakeholders via the national marine advisory board and the respective regional bodies such as le Groupe conseil in Quebec.

With respect to our environmental response program, preparedness is a critical component that focuses on planning, training, and exercising. The coast guard works internally and also externally with its federal, industry and international partners to ensure that we are prepared to respond in the event of a pollution incident. Canada's marine oil spill preparedness and response regime is national in scope and requires industry-funded response organizations south of 60 to maintain certain response capacities. For example, response organizations are required to have on hand enough capacity and capability to handle a ship-sourced spill of up to 10,000 tonnes within timelines prescribed by the Canada Shipping Act, 2001. Prescribed vessels are required to have arrangements in place with a Transport Canada-certified response organization. However, north of 60 there are no certified response organizations as the marine transport of oil is quite limited compared to the south. The majority of oil response equipment housed north of 60 is owned and maintained by the coast guard. We have 19 caches of equipment that have been distributed across the north.

In addition, we have three larger depots, located at Tuktoyaktuk, Churchill, and Iqaluit, and a rapid air depot in Hay River, which allow us to respond in a timely fashion should there be a pollution incident.

The Canadian Coast Guard is a key participant in many of the world-class tanker safety initiatives. A cornerstone of the world-class tanker safety system is risk-based area response planning. Through the announced ARP process, the coast guard, in partnership with Transport and Environment Canada, will lead the creation of a new risk-based model for planning and preparing for marine oil spills, which includes the identification of risks such as vessel traffic, type of cargo, and marine environment, as well as the development of mitigation strategies to address identified risks. Through area response planning, the Canadian Coast Guard will play a key role in marine spill response planning and management by bringing together stakeholders who may be impacted should a pollution incident occur.

One other initiative I'd like to mention on the preparedness side is a transfer payment program that will be established to support aboriginal communities in accessing funding for the purchase of equipment required to participate in the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and in Canada's marine search and rescue system.

Finally, I draw your attention to our roles with respect to response. Canada's marine oil spill preparedness and response regime is a joint government–industry partnership for addressing marine pollution based on the polluter pays principle, meaning the polluter is always responsible for addressing any pollution they have caused.

From the federal government side, Transport Canada, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Canadian Coast Guard are partners in the regime. Transport Canada regulates the regime. Environment Canada is responsible for the provision and coordination of scientific information and advice to support pollution response. Additionally, Fisheries and Oceans conducts scientific research on fisheries and marine ecosystems and provides advice as part of spill preparedness and response.

The coast guard, as the operational arm of the government, is the lead federal response agency responsible for ensuring appropriate responses for ships or spills in waters under Canadian jurisdiction. The coast guard receives reports of pollution and responds to ensure that the polluter is taking action and, if so, will monitor the response of the polluter to ensure it's appropriate.

The coast guard also has the authority to assume command of a response in the event that the polluter is unwilling to, is unable to, or is unknown. The coast guard can recover costs of monitoring or responding to an event either from the polluter or from the Canadian ship-source oil pollution fund.

One of the initiatives under the world-class system is the coast guard's implementation of an incident command system. The incident command system is a standardized, on-scene, all-hazard management methodology designed to ensure effective command, control, and coordination of response to pollution incidents. Through implementation of the incident command system, the coast guard's ability to work collaboratively with other emergency responders and stakeholders will be improved, and we will be better equipped to respond in cooperation with key partners and other departments and agencies.

Finally, I'd like to speak for a moment about the Canadian Coast Guard fleet. Canadian Coast Guard services are ably supported by the Canadian Coast Guard fleet operational readiness program, which provides safe, reliable, available, and operationally capable vessels.

Our fleet consists of 119 large vessels and air cushion vehicles, as well as 21 helicopters. These vessels are operated by qualified and certified crews who are ready to respond to on-water and maritime-related requirements, and who deliver the full range of coast guard programs and support the on-water programs of our federal partners. We operate within the safety management regulations introduced by Transport Canada in 1998 and have voluntarily implemented a safety management system pursuant to the international safety management code. The objectives of the international safety management code for the safe operation of ships and for pollution prevention are to ensure prevention of human injury or loss of life, safety at sea, and avoidance of damage to the environment, in particular to the marine environment and to property. Our safety management system for the CCG fleet ensures that we are compliant with international conventions and Canadian laws. The system also maintains a safety, security, and pollution prevention culture within our organization and maintains our response readiness.

Mr. Chair, I thank you and members of the committee for the opportunity to provide this overview of the coast guard's roles and responsibilities related to prevention, preparedness, and response to marine spill incidents. On behalf of Mr. Hains and Mr. Pelletier, I want to thank you for this opportunity to discuss the role of the Canadian hydrographic service in Canada's navigation safety network.

We'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have for us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thanks, Mr. Hutchinson.

We'll go right to questioning.

Mr. Mai, you have seven minutes.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses for participating in today's meeting. This testimony is very important for our study.

I would like to first discuss Canadians' concern over environmental protection.

Coasts and rivers are very important to Canadians. Since the Lac-Mégantic incidents, Canadians have been very worried about Transport Canada and its role, which really consists in protecting citizens. Concerns were also voiced when the Auditor General issued his report on rail safety, which drew attention to many shortcomings.

I will read an excerpt from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's report:

Some transportation companies are not effectively managing their safety risks, and Transport Canada oversight and intervention has not always proven effective at changing companies' unsafe operating practices.

Canadians are quite concerned, and so are we, as the opposition party, especially since the government has cut budgets. For instance, Transport Canada's spending in transportation security is now 20% lower than it was in 2009-2010. When it comes to marine safety, the 2010-2011 budget indicates that expenditures totalled $82.7 million, but they have been reduced by 28%. So that area has also been subject to cuts.

The worrisome part is oversight. Could you tell us how many inspectors are currently involved in marine safety?

[Sylvain Lachance]

Until late October, we had 319 inspectors, but we are currently going through a major recruitment phase. Owing to attrition, we lost a lot of people. Many of them retired.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Are the 319 inspectors involved specifically in marine safety?

[Sylvain Lachance]

Yes.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

You also talked about unfilled positions in transportation security. In the department's latest report, for 2013-2014, it was a matter of 585 unfilled positions in transportation security and 56 positions in marine safety.

Is the situation similar today?

[Sylvain Lachance]

No, there are no longer as many unfilled positions. Our planned complement is currently about 364.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

How many auditors do you have working on safety management systems?

[Sylvain Lachance]

No one works solely on that. Our people have a number of duties. Many of them can do that work.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Do your inspectors perform audits on the ground in addition to checking safety management systems?

[Sylvain Lachance]

Some do, but not all of them.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Concerns were also raised over the rising number of oil tankers in the St. Lawrence, and that is something that really affects Quebec. We have heard that the number will double or triple.

Has Transport Canada looked at this in its risk assessments?

Could you tell us what your predictions are in terms of the rising number of oil tankers?

[Sylvain Lachance]

We are monitoring this situation very closely, but the presence of oil tankers in the St. Lawrence is not new. They have been there for a very long time. The idea is that they need to comply with all the regulations, acts and international conventions. When an oil terminal project is developed, promoters ask that an environmental impact study be carried out.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Oil tankers are present in the St. Lawrence, but does Transport Canada know whether their numbers will increase? Some people have said that the numbers could double or triple.

Do you agree with that? Is that in line with your predictions or the systems used to anticipate problems?

[Sylvain Lachance]

It all depends on project approval. You are talking about the number doubling or tripling, but compared with what?

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

You agree that their number will increase.

[Sylvain Lachance]

It may well increase. As you can read in newspapers, projects are being implemented to increase the number of oil tankers. However, the actual number depends on a broad range of factors.

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

I understand.