Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, committee members for the opportunity to speak with you today about the Canadian Electricity Association's recommendations for Budget 2015, specifically how they will ensure prosperous and secure communities and support and protect critical infrastructure.
I'm the chief security officer for Hydro One. Prior to being at Hydro One I served for 31 years as a member of the Ontario Provincial Police in various roles, my last being the commander of the investigation and support bureau. So I'm very familiar with the challenges in securing our communities and critical infrastructure.
I'll address recommendation 6 in CEA's pre-budget submission. Francis Bradley, CEA's vice-president, policy development, who's joining me here today, will replace me at the mike to address the others.
Electricity, as part of the energy and utilities sector, is one of Canada's 10 critical infrastructure sectors as identified by Public Safety Canada. In recommendation 6 the CEA is proposing two measures to enhance the protection of electricity critical infrastructure.
On the cyber front, CEA is recommending that Budget 2015 increase funding for Public Safety Canada's cyber incident response centre, or CCIRC, a national coordination centre that facilitates information sharing, support, and advice relating to the prevention and mitigation of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from cyber events. Increasing CCIRC's capacity and capability would enhance its ability to support the protection of critical infrastructure facilities from growing and increasingly complex cyber threats.
The other recommendation relates to the growing problem of copper theft from electricity facilities. Recently thieves broke into a live, fully-energized transformer station to steal copper grounds and components. A flashover occurred and severely damaged the facility. Had any person been on site, serious personal injury could have resulted.
The cost to repair the station as the result of a theft of a few thousand dollars worth of copper is in the tens of millions of dollars. The most common charge for this type of incident is theft under $5,000, basically the market value of the copper components stolen—the same charge as for stealing a bicycle.
The CEA is calling for an amendment to the Criminal Code to create new sentencing options more proportional to the full range of impacts of these crimes. We've circulated copies of a CEA policy paper that was released earlier this year to provide you with additional information on the issue.
Francis.