Bill C-5 (Historical)

Offshore Health and Safety Act

An Act to amend the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures

This enactment amends the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act (the “Accord Acts”) in order to increase the level of safety and transparency of offshore petroleum activities.
The main purpose of the amendments is to establish a new occupational health and safety regime in the offshore areas.
In addition, it amends the Accord Acts to, most notably,
(a) ensure that occupational health and safety officers, special officers, conservation officers and operational safety officers have the same powers for the administration and enforcement of the Accord Acts;
(b) clarify that the new occupational health and safety regime applies to the transportation of persons who are in transit to, from or between workplaces in the offshore areas;
(c) require that any occupational health and safety regulations that apply to the transportation of persons who are in transit to, from or between workplaces in the offshore areas be made on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport; and
(d) authorize each of the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to publicly disclose information related to occupational health and safety if it considers it to be in the public interest.
It amends the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act to enable health and safety officers to get privileged information and to enable employers subject to the Accord Acts to apply to the Chief Screening Officer for exemptions from disclosure requirements in the same manner as employers under the Canada Labour Code. It also amends the Access to Information Act to prohibit the disclosure of certain information.
It amends the Canada Labour Code to closely follow the Accord Acts with respect to the time frame for the institution of proceedings, and with respect to prohibitions on the sharing of information and on testimony.
It also amends certain Acts and regulations to make terminological changes that are required as a result of certain amendments to the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act.

Offshore Health and Safety Act

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague took a bit of literary licence with what I said. I said that the chief safety officer and safety officers on construction sites could actually do that. It would not necessarily be a worker just deciding that he could do that. A certain appeal mechanism would have to happen.

We have shown a lot of leadership in taking this on and putting it in the bill. Typically, the provincial government has control over occupational health and safety for a lot of workforces. The fact that these are in this bill and we are doing it suggests to me that our government recognizes this is very important.

The complaints of the opposition of what was done in Bill C-4 is just a red herring.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend fromTobique—Mactaquac for his eloquent and very clear explanation of the bill and the amendments contained within. I am sure the more members opposite, and all members of the House, understand the importance of the bill, the broader acceptance there will be. I encourage members opposite to pay close attention to it.

This question is about natural resources, but not specifically on this. I know the member knows about this subject and supports it very strongly, and that is natural resource development all across our country in general. Companies that are involved in natural resource development, whether oil and gas, or mining, or other types, have found and understand the huge pool of human resources within first nations communities that lives around, or near, certain sites across the country. They understand the skilled labour pool that is there, available to be trained and put to work on these natural resource sites. Could the member comment on how important this is to our economy, to the natural resource sector's operations and to the first nations communities themselves?

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George, who was once a member with me on the natural resources committee. I very much valued his input, especially in the forest sector, where he was very knowledgeable. It is a very strong industry in his riding as well.

He is right. Just as an example, in Nova Scotia, in late 2000 its GDP was 3% and approximately 4,745 people worked in the offshore sector. Therefore, the number of jobs that this actually creates is important. Following that idea, I can point to a situation in my riding. There is a future mine development. The people are very engaged in discussions with first nations to create employment opportunities. That is one segment of our population that is growing and this represents an opportunity for our workers. There is a tremendous impact for our economy. Making regulatory certainty, like we are in the bill, is an important aspect for investment and to make our economy grow.

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to Canada's offshore safety regime.

Natural resources are an important part of Canada's economy. We all know this. The country was enormously blessed not only with huge reserves of energy, but also with massive tracts of forest, as well as an abundance of minerals and metals.

For generations, we have brought opportunity, jobs and growth to every region of the country through this sector. Right now nearly 800,000 Canadians work in the natural resources sectors. Another 800,000 people are employed by industries serving these sectors. Added up, close to 1.6 million Canadians depend on natural resources for their jobs, 10% of all employment in Canada.

Put together, natural resources account for 15% of our gross domestic product and a full 50% of our exports. When we include the spinoff industries that provide goods and services to the sector, natural resources account for nearly 20% of our GDP, or nearly one-fifth of our economy.

The important thing is that natural resources are poised to play an even bigger role in the years and decades ahead. In fact, over the next decade more than 600 major natural resources projects, worth over $650 billion, are expected to come online across Canada. That $650 billion figure represents hundreds of thousands of top-paying jobs in every sector of our economy and in every region of the country.

That is why our government has a plan to unleash Canada's natural resource potential. We call it the responsible resource development approach. This plan is streamlining the reviews of major projects by ensuring fixed timelines, eliminating duplication, strengthening environmental protection and improving aboriginal consultations.

Over the past year, there has been a growing interest in exploration of the offshore resources of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Off Nova Scotia's coast, offshore activity is continuing to pick up, with production of natural gas from the Sable offshore energy project and the startup of the Deep Panuke natural gas project. In fact, in the past two years, the Nova Scotia offshore area has seen the largest bids ever for offshore parcels in Atlantic Canada, with more than $2 billion bid for 12 parcels offshore. Shell Canada and BP Exploration clearly see the potential that exists in the Nova Scotia offshore area.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the offshore oil and gas industry is contributing to a booming economy and a resurgence in the natural resources sector. I was elected to the House 20 years ago. For the first almost 10 years of the time I spent here, the talk was of Newfoundland and Labrador being a have-not province. It seemed there was no hope.

The fisheries sector was dying due to overfishing and especially by international illegal fishing. The tourism industry in Newfoundland and Labrador had not been developed, like it is now. It truly seemed the future for Newfoundland and Labrador was bleak.

Here we are, a short 20 years later, and Newfoundland and Labrador is a have province, contributing to Canada's economy in a substantial way. Not only that, and I guess this is kind of a bad thing for Alberta, and I am a member of Parliament from Alberta, but we are losing the good Newfoundland workers we depended on so much in Alberta in our resource sector to Newfoundland and Labrador. That is as it should be.

The province's GDP has performed at or above the national average in 9 of the past 13 years. Offshore oil and gas accounted for 33% of the GDP in 2011.

The Hibernia south extension could return as much as $13 billion to the province in taxes and royalties.

According to a recent report from the province's department of human resources, the resource sector will be the major contributor, with an 8% boost in employment. That is 2,300 new jobs by 2015. It is substantial, indeed, for that part of the country.

An exciting thing is that there will be 2,300 new jobs in the new development of the Hebron heavy oil project and the Muskrat Falls hydro project as these projects ramp up. Hibernia was the largest project ever undertaken in Newfoundland and Labrador, but as big as Hibernia was and is, Hebron may be even bigger.

Hebron represents a capital investment of as much as $14 billion. It is expected to create more than 3,500 good paying jobs for Canadians during construction alone. Hebron is still on target for its first oil by 2015.

Here is the big picture. In both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, resource revenues continue to grow and much of that growth is in the offshore. Exploration and development of the offshore is translating into real, tangible benefits for the people of these provinces, such as more and better jobs, tax cuts for families at all income levels, lower taxes for small businesses and new investments in service and infrastructure that help to attract new investment and build stronger communities. These benefits will continue to grow.

To ensure these offshore activities are ferried out safely, our Conservative government is introducing new legislation to improve Canada's robust offshore regulatory framework. We have been working closely with the Governments of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador to address the gaps found in the current legislation concerning occupational health and safety.

We know that the Senate did a study on this recently and found our regulatory system to be very strong now, but this would improve the process further. We have to ensure that we have the regulatory process that we need to go well into the future, and that is what this would help to do.

After working with the provinces, industry, regulators and labour groups, we are improving our offshore legislation to better protect the safety of Canada's offshore workers. These changes would help protect offshore workers by vesting with the accords act a strong occupational health and safety regime. Both provinces have already given royal assent to their respective bills, but this time, they must wait for the legislation to pass our federal Parliament for the new regime to come into force. Of course, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia want this legislation passed as quickly as possible.

The health and safety of Canada's offshore workers is a top priority for the government. Under the current regime, all offshore activities are regulated by Canada's offshore boards. Companies that want to explore offshore must provide and have approved by the provinces board a detailed emergency response plan and contingency plan before any drilling can take place. It is rigorous. This means that Canadian regulators will not allow any offshore activity unless they are absolutely convinced that the environment and safety of workers are well protected. Our offshore installations and the equipment and training required to operate them must meet the strictest regulatory standards.

This legislation would just add to the very substantial and well-functioning legislation that is currently in place. It would lead to better things and to the appropriate regulatory regime that protects health and safety in the decade ahead. That is what this is about. This is something good for eastern Canada and, in particular, for Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated hearing from the member for Vegreville—Wainwright about his concern for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. I say to him and anybody else in the House to never count out the Atlantic Canada provinces in terms of fulfilling our proper role in this federation.

I want to ask for the member's thoughts on something. New Democrats are particularly happy that Bill C-5 clarifies the rights of health and safety officers to protect work sites and enforce the rights of working people to work in safe and healthy workplaces. However, if we compare that with provisions in Bill C-4 that clearly strip health and safety officers of their powers in the Canada Labour Code and turn them over to the minister, there is a clear contradiction between, on the one hand, trying to clarify and enforce the rights of working people and, on the other hand, pushing them further up the chain to somebody whose interests are potentially contrary to those of people on the floor.

I want to ask the member if he would please try to clarify for me why his government is pushing forward this serious contradiction in terms of the rights of working people.

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have to admit I do not entirely understand the question. I do not understand what the contradiction is, I guess.

What I do know is that we are working with the Provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia in a way that they see as appropriate to further protect the health and safety of workers. I simply do not see a contradiction, but I would certainly welcome further discussion on that point and would listen carefully to the member if he has something to add.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on a point referenced earlier. At the end of the member's comments, he referred to how happy and pleased he is with regard to the wealth that has been generated as a direct result of our natural resources, and so forth.

All of Canada benefits immensely when we properly develop and tap into our natural resources. It does not matter where it is happening, whether it is in Atlantic Canada or the prairie region. Wherever it might be, there is a great deal of value, and it improves the economic and social well-being of our communities throughout our country. In that sense, Liberals are very pleased to see the type of well generation that is taking place. It has been pointed out that Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia at one point were have-not provinces and are now have provinces, which is always great to see.

That said, this legislation highlights the importance of different stakeholders, levels of governments in particular, having to work together to ensure that the health and safety conditions of workers are in fact being protected and acted on. I want to ask the member to comment on the importance of not only the federal and provincial governments doing their job but also on how critically important it is that workers provide direct input and to what degree he might be able to provide that aspect in this legislation.

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my comments, workers have been included in this whole process, so it has not only been the federal and provincial governments but all stakeholders, including workers, who have been carefully and continually consulted through the process. I agree with him that consultation is important.

On his first comment, it seems to me there has been a bit of a conversion on the road to Damascus, in effect. The member finally recognizes that when natural resources are developed anywhere in this country, the benefit is spread right across the country. We have certainly seen that with the oil sands, where all of the activity there provides jobs in central Canada and eastern Canada as well as in Alberta. It is the same thing with Newfoundland and Labrador and with natural resource development everywhere, in fact: there are jobs across the country. What is good for one part of this country is good for the whole country. The member brought up an excellent point.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, prior to my election to the House I worked in my own company called Return to Work Solutions. We worked with injured employees to get them back to work. I know that workers' compensation is the jurisdiction of the provinces, particularly the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Ontario.

I wonder if the member could talk about the importance of the work that we have done with the provinces to ensure that we are working co-operatively with them in the best interests of the workers involved.

[Leon Benoit, Conservative, Vegreville—Wainwright, AB]

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, both the federal government and the provinces have worked with stakeholders and workers. The result is that the legislation will be effective. Both of those provinces want the legislation passed as soon as possible. Therefore, I look forward to it coming to the natural resources committee, of which I am a member, as soon as possible, so we can have further discussion and get it back to the House so we can get it through as quickly as possible.

[The Deputy Speaker, NDP, Joe Comartin]

It being 1:30 p.m., the House will now proceed to the consideration of private members' business as listed on today's order paper.

The House resumed from October 31 consideration of the motion that Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have an opportunity to stand and speak for a few moments on Bill C-5, an act to amend the Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and other acts and to provide for certain other measures. This is a piece of legislation that exists as a result of negotiations that have been going on for literally 12 years between the federal government, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. It mirrors legislation that has already been passed in both of those provincial legislatures, so we will not be amending it here. If we were to do so, it would mean that they would have to go back to the drawing board.

Bill C-5 is an attempt to strengthen offshore health and safety practices in the oil and gas industry, which have been separated and left to regulation. That is a problem that I have certainly seen with other legislation. In my former jurisdiction of Nova Scotia, the government for 20 years did the same thing with the Trade Union Act, on the one hand, and with health and safety legislation on the other. What we found out, certainly in the case of health and safety legislation, was that it was not good enough to do it all by regulation. We had to make sure that the rules of the road, the principles, were properly articulated. The regulations would be there to make sure that those principles were carried forward.

It is good to see that the three governments involved here see that this is important to have done. Therefore, we will be supporting the bill at second reading.

The bill would put the practice into legislation based on three basic principles. Number one is that offshore occupational health and safety laws must provide workers with protection that is at least as good as what exists for onshore workers. This is a situation that has existed for far too many years and is finally being addressed here. Number two is the protection of employee rights; that is, to know, to participate, to refuse, and to be protected from reprisal will be covered in the bill. Number three is support for an occupational health and safety culture that recognizes the shared responsibility in the workplace.

We support this legislation. We think it is a step in the right direction for offshore safety, but more work still needs to be done. We hope that the federal government continues to work with the provinces to strengthen offshore safety regulations and that an independent stand-alone safety regulator is created for the future. That last point is something that came out of the Wells commission that recommended that a stand-alone regulator be put in place. It was something that was not agreed to by the parties and therefore does not exist. We think it is very important. I am going to speak a little more about that here this afternoon.

As usual, a bill like this comes to the floor of the legislature as a result of hard lessons, and in this case, lessons learned from years of offshore tragedies.

It has been more than 30 years since Canada's worse offshore disaster. In 1982, 84 people were killed when the drill rig Ocean Ranger sank off Newfoundland. A royal commission was subsequently convened in 1984, and that commission criticized the industry for poor safety training and equipment and lax inspections.

I want to take a moment to read a section from a book that was written by a good friend of mine, someone who lost her brother in that disaster back in 1982.

Susan Dodd wrote an exceptional piece of work called The Ocean Ranger, Remaking the Promise of Oil, which not only talks about that disaster, what led to it, what resulted from it, and the devastation it caused to the families involved but very much documents the problems that resulted as a consequence of legislators not paying attention. It was a result, frankly, of the power of the oil and gas sector to basically have its way and go about its business and of governments saying, “Thank you very much. We'll take some royalty revenue from you, but we'll try not to get in your way”.

I want to read, if I may, a passage from the book, which I think underlines why it is so important that we not only pay attention to the bill but that we also think about the role we play here as legislators to ensure that we do everything in our power to provide the laws, the regulations, the rules of the road, and the protections that would ensure that people living and working in this country and for this country are safe.

Let me quote:

The shock of the Ocean Ranger disaster was not that oil production was dangerous, but rather the realization that governments had betrayed people's faith. People trusted governments to use reasonable regulation to mitigate the risks of oil jobs. That trust was misplaced. There were no provincial safety regulations in the Newfoundland offshore when my brother and his eighty-three co-workers died.... Time and again, publics trust governments to ensure that companies operate with reasonable prudence. Time and again we are shocked by a new disaster caused by corporate negligence. We say we will “never forget.”

We do it all the time in this House.

Then we forget. And then it happens again.

The author goes on to talk about the fact that the most recent example is 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers and injured 17 more, resulting in the worst U.S. marine oil spill in history.

It is a fascinating book. I urge all members, or anyone interested, to take a look at it. Again, it is The Ocean Ranger, Remaking the Promise of Oil, and the author is Susan Dodd.

It is particularly important for those of us living on the coast, and in my case, living on the east coast. We know that Shell has invested over $1 billion to further explore an oil field off our coast. BP, in another area offshore, is further investing nearly $1 billion in exploring a similar development.

In other words, we cannot pretend that it is not coming again, that we are not going to be out there again. There are rigs out there off Newfoundland. We know that there are drilling rigs and exploratory rigs out there. There is equipment moving around our coast. We need to make sure that the people working in our offshore and the people servicing the offshore are provided with the necessary protections to ensure that these kinds of disasters do not happen again. It is important that we do that now.

I should say, of course, that a more recent review of offshore safety came in 2009, after the crash of Cougar Flight 91, which killed 17 people. The Wells inquiry into the Cougar crash made a number of recommendations, most notably the creation of an autonomous and dedicated safety regulator, which is not included.

My colleague, the member for St. John's East, raised a question in the House today about a recommendation that has gone before transport to ensure that airplanes and helicopters are able to operate an hour after they no longer have any oil or have run dry. It is an important safety measure that would have ensured that the disaster I referred to, Cougar Flight 91, did not happen. We continue to ask the government questions about why it is that it is unwilling to introduce that particular requirement for the offshore.

While I am disappointed, as others on this side have said, that this bill does not call for an independent safety regulator, I believe that it is a step in the right direction.

Again, it implements many of the principles of occupational health and safety. As I have said, offshore occupational health and safety laws must provide workers with protections that are at least as good as those that exist for onshore workers. The protection of employee rights to know, to participate, to refuse, and to be protected from reprisal needs to be included.

That is an issue that has been raised in this session of the House in relation to Bill C-4, the omnibus budget bill. In there are changes that lessen the responsibilities of health and safety inspectors. We are concerned about the implications those changes would have on Bill C-5. As I said, this bill talks about setting up a balance between health and safety protections onshore and offshore and about providing clear protection of the rights of employees to know, to participate, to refuse, and to be protected from reprisal. We are concerned that the omnibus budget bill, in fact, lessens those rights in federal jurisdictions and therefore may have some implications here. I understand that in a recent briefing on this bill, we were unable to get answers to those particular questions, but we will continue to ask.

Finally is support for an occupational health and safety culture that recognizes the shared responsibilities in the workplace.

As I have suggested to members, we will continue to see further exploration, further development of natural resources, off our coasts. We need to make sure that we provide the environmental protections necessary, if we are going to go forward, to ensure that no problems exist and that no problems are created that endanger our natural resources, coastlines, industries, fisheries, environment, marine life, or oceans. It is an issue that has come up on the east coast and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

We know that the issue of the development of the Old Harry site is a controversial one. It is controversial for reasons like this. We must make sure that we have protections in place for the people who work on any particular drill site and that the environmental protections are in place before any company is allowed to proceed with any development.

In the Gulf, as we have heard in this House, if there is an oil spill, God forbid, it takes upward of a year for the Gulf of St. Lawrence to empty and the water to cycle around. It would be absolutely devastating to Quebec, New Brunswick, the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and, of course, to the waters that flow into and out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is important that we pay attention to how we are moving forward and ensure that all of our laws are properly constructed to cover any potential problems that may exist.

This is a situation where laws are just now catching up with a disaster that happened 30 years ago, in which 84 people lost their lives. We have to be able to respond more quickly. We have to make sure we can look forward and learn from what is happening in other jurisdictions. Let us not wait until the worst case scenario actually presents itself, and let us bring legislation forward to prevent the kinds of disasters we have talked about, which happened in the past and are happening in other jurisdictions.

That is why we need to move forward and work closely with the provinces, in this case Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. On another offshore related issue, the Province of Nova Scotia has extended a moratorium against oil and natural gas development in Georges Bank. That area was determined to be extraordinarily vulnerable, a very sensitive ecosystem, very much a nursery for the fishery throughout the east coast. It has been determined in the past by both the federal and provincial governments working together that we needed to prevent any industrial development in that area of the ocean.

As well, the Province of Nova Scotia has passed legislation to make sure that will not happen, but the federal government, this time, has failed to work with the Province of Nova Scotia. We will continue to push the government on that question. The moratorium must be extended to protect the industry that now exists, the fishery, to protect the ecosystem, to protect our oceans and to protect our environment throughout the east coast.

Again, that is another part of the legislative framework that needs to be put in place to ensure that, as developments continue to move forward, we have the protections in place to ensure that damage is not done to what already exists and what might exist well into the future.

Both BP and Shell Oil are set to conduct new deepwater oil exploration off Nova Scotia for the first time since 2005. We believe that our workers deserve nothing less than to feel safe not only in their workplaces but, in the case of the offshore industry, in transit to the workplace as well.

I hope the government will continue to work with the provinces involved to make sure that offshore safety regulations are strengthened and that we can avoid offshore tragedies like Cougar flight 91, the BP spill in the Gulf, and the Ocean Ranger disaster.

It was a pleasure to participate in this debate. I look forward to any questions.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague with his understanding of the issue, particularly, coming from the Maritimes where so many people are involved in the offshore industry.

Where I live in northern Ontario, we have people who are on flying crews and in isolated communities. They are away from home for a long time. However, when we look at the offshore industry in particular, we see there have been a number of disturbing accidents and problems in the past. Certainly, the whole country still remembers what happened with the Ocean Ranger disaster and the lack of safety protocols that left so many men exposed and damaged so many families. We see the loss of the helicopter that went down recently off Newfoundland. There were the same questions and same issues of safety.

Now we see the issues across the country, with respect to various pipeline proposals, where pipelines have blown out because the proper safety systems were not in place, causing either loss of life or heavy damage to the environment.

Given the sensitivities in the maritime culture in terms of fisheries, habitat and danger to people out on the ocean, I would ask my hon. colleague this question: what does he think we need to do specifically in terms of safety issues and making sure there are clear rules in place?

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague. The issues around health and safety in the workplace and otherwise are very important to that member. He does great work in his constituency on behalf of working people. He is right that safety is a big deal in the maritime environment. Fishing is one of the most dangerous businesses there is. Back in the late winter, five fishermen died in Nova Scotia when their vessel went down in a storm in the southwest just off the Liverpool area. They were out fishing for halibut. It is a dangerous industry.

We need to do more. I have talked with my friends and people within the industry about what we can do to make sure the people who toil in that industry are safer. It is a collaboration that needs to happen. Government needs to take some leadership on this issue to make sure there are rules and they are enforced. It is all well and good to establish the greatest workplace rules, but if we do not enforce them and hold people accountable then they will end up not doing their job.

We have only gone part way. That is why in this case we had hoped the government would also move forward with an independent regulator who people could deal with and speak to and who would help implement good safety and health laws on the offshore.