Foreign Affairs committee  There is a difference because of where the ice is and how the ice moves. The discussion about the Arctic being ice free...there is a breakup of ice earlier, there's no doubt, in the Arctic, but it is all moving south, which has made the Northwest Passage inherently more dangerous

Foreign Affairs committee  There is more ice. Last summer, for example, there was significantly more ice in the Northwest Passage and in Frobisher Bay it was iced in for quite some time due to the winds and the breakup of the ice. Therefore, the need for icebreakers is actually increasing as the Arctic ice

Foreign Affairs committee  Right, or any vessel that goes into some area of the Northwest Passage, if the weather changes, the ice changes, then they need an icebreaker. About 10% of the Arctic is charted to modern standards. It needs a significant amount of work, but, as I said, we don't think it is reas

Foreign Affairs committee  On May 15 the document will be signed. Jacqueline was the leader of the delegation for Canada, so perhaps she can give you the details.

Foreign Affairs committee  We have 20 caches of equipment dedicated to the north, and then we have three rapidly transportable large packs for a major spill. The concept of marine pollution, no matter where it occurs in Canada, is that you cascade assets. Should there be a major spill anywhere in the cou

Foreign Affairs committee  We're talking skimmers, booms—all that kind of equipment that you use to respond to an oil spill.

Foreign Affairs committee  In the coast guard, we tend to respond to what our client needs are based on the changes in the environmental conditions in the Arctic. As to the Fisheries and Oceans position on climate change, Renée would be best placed to answer that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Good morning. My name is Jody Thomas and I am the deputy commissioner of operations at the Canadian Coast Guard. I'm here today with Jacqueline Gonçalves, who is the director general of program requirements. We are here to provide a brief overview of the coast guard's

Fisheries committee  No. There's nothing in the main estimates that affects the coast guard based in Sarnia at all, or their work in the Great Lakes area.

Fisheries committee  Certainly the modernization of the coast guard is technology-based. Whether it's the new vessels that are coming into operation—we have ten vessels under construction right now, midshore patrol vessels and a new hovercraft that will change our capacity on water, because they are

Environment committee  Right. No, we haven't done that verification. I can't say we've audited or questioned our partners. There is a federal emergency response plan that is coordinated by Public Safety. It is exercised. We are part of that. For a major spill of any significance, the FERP would probabl

Environment committee  Well, that validation would certainly be a very useful part of the risk assessment we're doing, and of our assessment of our own capacity and our emergency management plans.

Environment committee  The risk assessment will not be completed, but we had an internal audit done by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans earlier this year, so we've started some of this work in terms of the scoping of the risk assessment and our own internal management program as a result of that

Environment committee  Generally, when we're conducting studies, we consult with our stakeholders and our partners, so I would say yes.

Environment committee  We're scoping the response now, and we'll be discussing and consulting with stakeholders.