Transport Committee on Nov. 27th, 2014

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you.

Is it the equivalent of the Rangers, if you will, in the north, in the Arctic? Is it similar?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

There's a parallel that could be drawn there, and there's a parallel that might be drawn with a volunteer fire department.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Speaking of the north, as the Northwest Passage becomes more navigable, how is the Canadian Coast Guard contributing to environmental protection and security generally in the Northwest Passage?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

We're watching the situation very carefully, as you can imagine. There's a lot of talk about traffic in the north, but in fact the amount of traffic through the Northwest Passage is still minimal. To my knowledge, there was one cargo vessel that transited the Northwest Passage this year. It was a very ice-capable ship. They were in communication with us. We certainly worked side by side with them, although they navigated that route without direct assistance from the coast guard in any way.

Being in communication with mariners and knowing where vessels are moving, that's one way we're involved in protection in the Arctic. There's also a different awareness system—you might think of it that way—in the Arctic. It's called NORDREG. Ships at sea in the Arctic have to report to us in more comprehensive detail than we would require south of 60, because of the the unique operating environment.

As I referred to in my opening remarks, we do have environmental equipment deployed across the north. It's rapidly deployable and we can get it on site quickly if needed. We've implemented a system that we refer to as “cascading resources”, which means that we get the resources to the event that are closest to the event, and then we bring in other resources as needed to build the right response as quickly as possible.

Mario, is there anything you want to add to that, given your responsibilities?

[Mario Pelletier]

It's interesting to say that the Northwest Passage is becoming more open, because in the last couple of seasons there's actually more ice there and more dangerous ice than ever—in the past 10 years, anyway. So yes, the ice is melting a little bit, but it also means that the multi-year ice, a very hard ice, is moving down, too, and it ends up in the Northwest Passage in the fall and freezes there. By springtime, it doesn't melt as quickly as first-year ice. It is not as open as one might think.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you. Your time has expired.

Ms. Morin, you have five minutes.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses for participating in today's meeting.

Earlier, my colleague Hoang Mai asked questions about traffic in the St. Lawrence. This whole discussion indicates that prevention is much more important than intervention. We agree with that. Good preventive measures need to be implemented.

My Conservative colleague asked you how you are protecting the environment in the north. I would like to know how exactly the environment is being protected in the St. Lawrence and Lake Saint-Louis.

[Mario Pelletier]

You did say Lake Saint-Louis, right?

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Yes, I did.

[Mario Pelletier]

As my colleague briefly mentioned, most large vessels that pass through the lake have to come to an agreement with response organizations. When pollution occurs, the polluter is always responsible for making arrangements with the relevant organization.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Okay.

I will now talk about Kathryn Spirit. You probably know where I am going with this.

What needs to be done for the federal government to assume its responsibilities and for Kathryn Spirit to be removed from this location? That vessel has been anchored in Lake Saint-Louis for three years. It is beginning its fourth winter there. It contains two million litres of water contaminated by petroleum waste, as well as fuel oil. The vessel will rust this year. Yet it's located in the reservoir from which the entire Montreal Metropolitan Community draws its water, and which flows into the St. Lawrence.

You said earlier that you do not really have any studies that indicate what proportion of oil spills you could recover. You talked about prevention, so I would like to know what measures will have to be taken to remove Kathryn Spirit from Lake Saint-Louis this winter.

What needs to be done or said? How will Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada work with the community to make sure this vessel is removed from the lake?

[Mario Pelletier]

The Canadian Coast Guard has, of course, assessed the risks.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

And you needed four years to assess the risks!

[Mario Pelletier]

We have been doing that on an ongoing basis with the owner or his representative. We asked what his intentions were. Over the years, the owner has always had the intention to move on, but he has unfortunately not always kept his word.

Over the past few months....

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

What kind of power do you have over the owner? When you ask him what he is doing, he says he is making progress. What can you do if that is not the case?

[Mario Pelletier]

We have the power to assess the real risk. Last summer, many pollutants were removed from the vessel. There was no imminent risk regarding the vessel's stability. There was no indication that pollution could potentially occur.

That said, over the past few days, the owner told us that he had the permission of the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and the Montreal Port Authority to have his ship towed toward the Port of Montreal, so that a full underwater inspection could be carried out and he could continue on to another port.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Why did that take four years? What should be done the next time a situation poses a pollution risk for the St. Lawrence? How can the regulations be changed so that, next time, this process would not take four years?

[Mario Pelletier]

I don't know whether my colleague from the Department of Transport would like to add anything.

We were always abreast of the situation. There was never an imminent risk of pollution during that time.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

How could you assess whether the situation posed pollution risks?

[Mario Pelletier]

We had to look at what was on board and see what the state of the hull was.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

But there was some rust on the hull.

[Mario Pelletier]

Steel does rust, but there was nothing wrong with the structure. That is also the reason it will be towed to another location. It is currently impossible to carry out a comprehensive and safe underwater inspection. That is why we agreed with the vessel being moved.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

So you're saying that you could not carry out a safe marine assessment in four years, but you can still say that there was no danger to the environment

[Mario Pelletier]

I said that we carried out an assessment. The ship poses no risk where it is currently docked. However, if it needs to be towed to the gulf or elsewhere, other elements have to be considered. It posed no risk while it was docked.

[Isabelle Morin, NDP, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

Why did it take four years to obtain a permit for the vessel to be towed to the Port of Montreal?