Evidence of meeting #3 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was subcommittee.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you very much.
I want to go back to the MCTS. How many transmitters are operating right now in the MCTS, that is, transmitting, as in outward, not listening, but outward?
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
These are the same communication towers, receiver and transmitter.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
They are transmitting and receiving, yes.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Okay.
Do you have performance logs for each of those towers? Do you have a record of outages?
We heard, for instance, that the Victoria station went down for a period of time. If there were other transmitting facilities such as the one that used to be in Vancouver or Comox, which is still there, there should have been some overlap of coverage, but there doesn't seem to have been any.
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
No.
Actually, what happened in Victoria is very specific and has nothing to do with the consolidation. It's what we call the microwave link that links those transmission towers to the centre. That got disconnected. As soon as that happened, all the staff started trouble-shooting to find out where the disconnect was. They were able to re-establish the services within a few minutes.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Have none of the Coast Guard transmitters on the west coast gone dark in the past five years?
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We had a number of issues that were linked to third party providers. We rely on third party providers to bring the signal from a tower to other more centralized centres. If I look at the majority of the outages, it is due to third parties.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Transmitting or receiving. They use a network or phone line to do that.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Do you have performance logs to show the standard of that service?
4:35 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That is correct. We do maintain logs of all the equipment and their performance, and so on, and the cause of any outage as well.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you for answering these questions.
Was there consultation with mariners before, during, and after the consolidation in terms of their satisfaction with the service?
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Actually, as Mr. Hutchinson alluded to, the modernization of the communication and control system was something that we had started before the consolidation. That's new technology that we're going to put in place that enabled us to do the consultation from the end-user perspective. The service has not changed. When they call the Coast Guard radio or the Coast Guard traffic services, there's a voice that responds to them.
As soon as it was announced, we talked to our stakeholders and industry partners and so on to explain exactly what it was and that the towers and the signal would be picked up, and the same level of service would be provided. That consultation went on. We have marine advisory boards in Canada. All regions have their own marine advisory board. We have a national one. We use those advisory boards to discuss with our stakeholders and partners about the ongoing work. That's part of the discussion.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to follow up on the line of questioning on the MCTS. Also, my understanding is that Victoria went dark this past weekend for 30 minutes. My understanding is that Iqaluit has gone dark in the past and that Vancouver has gone dark for a period.
When these outages happen what happens?
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We have a number of mitigating measures that we've put in place, and that's no different from what it was. We use our own resources on water to monitor the air, as we call it.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Eyes and ears are critical, and local stations can actually be helpful.
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That is correct, yes. That's part of our network. Sometimes we talk about local knowledge, and so on. Our navigation system is a network where we use our internal resources, whether they be the marine communications and traffic services, the joint rescue coordination centres, or our on-water assets, as well as other stakeholders' assets.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Sorry to rush through these. I have two more points I want to make in my three minutes here.
Mr. Pelletier, you mentioned stakeholder engagement to improve the communication and coordination of the Marathassa review. You said it was 40% done.
I have two quick questions. First, when do you anticipate the rest of the review recommendations will be implemented?
Second, in terms of the communication and coordination of the spill response—and I'm referring to the bunker fuel spill—you mentioned the table around which stakeholders are meeting. Are the City of Vancouver, the fire department, the police and other emergency responders, the province and their emergency response all sitting around this table providing input?
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
That is correct. Right after the incident, when the response measures were deemed to be satisfactory, there was agreement among the stakeholders in the command centre to form what they call a project management office, and they've been meeting regularly. Anybody who was involved in the response or had a stake in the response is still part of that discussion.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you.
My final question is on derelict vessels. My understanding is the United States has a much stronger program than we do in Canada. What additional jurisdictional powers do you think the Canadian Coast Guard would need in order to have a more robust or resilient derelict vessel program?
4:40 p.m.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Right now, we're looking at the situation. As I said, more and more of those vessels are coming to light right now, perhaps because of awareness. It is concerning, and we're working very closely with Transport Canada, which has some authority under the Canada Shipping Act, as do we, to mitigate pollution. They have the authority to certify ships and clear a presence on the water. We're working jointly on this very topic right now.
