Transport committee  The transportation of any dangerous goods only comes into play with any of the short-run ferries that we operate within the association, and all of them are provincially run.

Transport committee  Very much so. The biggest issue is that a lot of our vessels within our association are not within close proximity to a Transport Canada marine centre. So the inspectors have to go out into the field to visit the ship and inspect it. And then if they have to bring in another pers

Transport committee  I fully agree with the use of the SMS. I, being in the industry for so many years, believe in it. It's just in the process. Probably the other biggest thing that we have is the lines of communication we have with Transport Canada and the inspection regime.

Transport committee  On that I could pass you to Mr. Duhamel who could answer that question much better than myself.

Transport committee  At this time, it is not.

Transport committee  The vessels are inspected every year by Transport Canada.

Transport committee  It's the process in which to have it audited that I don't agree with.

Transport committee  It's every year, and then every four years the entire ship is put into dry dock and inspected. With regard to the SMS, Transport Canada does not have the ability to audit an SMS.

Transport committee  Because they are not qualified.

Transport committee  I would say no and I would also say yes. The personnel are already there on board the vessel. It wouldn't take much to continue the length of the audit to fulfill the SMS side of it.

Transport committee  I believe fully in the process of the SMS, and I fully believe that every vessel should have one. We all work within the realms of the SMS. In response to your question about making it mandatory, I have no qualms in saying every vessel should have one.

Transport committee  It's hard to make something mandatory. However, I will say that even before the SMS came into the whole framework of the industry, we as operators already had various aspects of the SMS in place. It just wasn't called an SMS at the time. So to make it mandatory....

Transport committee  You are incorrect.

Transport committee  Well, first off, if the Transport Canada inspectors who are already present and on board were capable of auditing the SMS, that would go a long way to start. As it is, even if the vessels are not allowed to enter into one of the five classification societies, they have to go ba

Transport committee  No, every vessel within Canada is inspected on a yearly basis or quadrennially, every four years, depending on the age of the vessel. But within that inspection regime there are certain things the inspector has to look at. There is a timeline for him to keep within in order to ge