Fisheries Committee on March 10th, 2016

[Roger Girouard]

There's no change for the operator.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I'm trying to be generous here, folks, but we're also pressed for time. My apologies, Mr. Finnigan, but I have to be tough.

For the final three minutes, we have Mr. Donnelly.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I just wanted to pick up on one issue. When stations experienced outages, have there been any near misses on the west coast when those stations were out? I mean with ships, tugs, recreational boats, and traffic.

[Gregory Lick]

I'll ask Mr. Girouard to respond afterward, but certainly from the national perspective and the national program across the country, among all of our centres we are not aware of any particular near misses or near incidents or any particular safety issues that were caused by any particular outages.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

In terms of the training, we're recognizing that it's an aging force. In other words, we're losing a lot of knowledge with consolidation with those who may not leave Vancouver or go to these new stations in Victoria or Prince Rupert. Maybe they don't, so while some may get picked up, some may not.

You're recognizing that there is an effort to recruit. It's obvious that it's going to take some time before someone is trained up to a satisfactory safety level for operating in these complex areas. Can you comment on that? You have to be confident, before you close these stations and lose this knowledge, that you're okay. You have to be confident that those vessels are going to be safe on the water and that if there is a distress call, they're going to get the response they need.

[Roger Girouard]

Mr. Donnelly, I want to tell you that I share the concern on the HR management piece. It's always an issue. I'm one of those folks who answers the question, “How long does it takes to grow 20 years of experience?” with “It takes 20 years.”

I'm actually in good shape in Prince Rupert. Two years ago, we got a batch of ab initios. I won't quote the exact average age in Prince Rupert, but it sure isn't 50. It's probably closer to age 30, so that team is growing in terms of its knowledge. When I look at what I have in Victoria now, I see a tremendously energetic and smart OIC who is working every day to grow the skill and knowledge of his team.

What will we lean on if we start losing folks? We'll lean on retirees, and we'll do a bit of shifting around to the best of our ability. The last thing I ever want to do is cut a service because of an HR issue. We're watching that piece very carefully.

The morale, the knowledge, and the level of satisfaction of those folks are important. They deliver important stuff to people. They really do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Girouard.

Sorry, Mr. Donnelly, but your three minutes are up. I apologize.

Mr. Girouard, Mr. Lick, and Mr. Ryan, thank you very much for being here today.

We're going to break for a short period of time because we're pressed for time, and I'd like to do some committee business at the end of this meeting. Let's take a break for a couple of minutes.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Welcome back, everybody.

Can I get everyone to take their seats? I don't mean to rush people along too much, but I need some time at the end here for some committee business. It may only take five minutes, but it's very important. We have a couple of things to discuss, so let's get through this.

Right now we have, from Unifor, Mr. Scott Hodge, vice-president, western region, local 2182. Good to see you, sir.

We also have Dale Gross, officer in charge of programs, MCTS, Canadian Coast Guard.

Both of you are entitled to your opening statements. Let's start with Mr. Gross.

[Dale Gross, Officer In Charge, Programs - MCTS - Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to participate in this study.

I would like to provide you with a bit of my background. I started as an officer with vessel traffic services in Vancouver in 1980 when it was separate from Coast Guard radio. I went through the amalgamation of vessel traffic services and Coast Guard radio in 1995 when MCTS was created, combining both disciplines.

During the amalgamation I took a three-year assignment as an instructor at the Coast Guard College in Sydney from 1997 to 2000. After my assignment I transferred to the office of boating safety in Dartmouth up until 2005, when I returned to the west coast as the officer in charge, or OIC, of Tofino MCTS, which was consolidated with Prince Rupert in April 2015. I then briefly worked at Vancouver MCTS as OIC, assisting in its consolidation with Victoria in May of 2015. Currently I am the OIC of Comox MCTS.

During my time with the public service I have definitely become accustomed to change, but I was not prepared for the announcement that came in 2012 that involved the consolidation of MCTS centres, resulting in the western region going down from five centres to two centres.

Over the last 15 years there have been many studies of MCTS: workload studies, least-cost analyses, change initiatives, and strategic reviews. MCTS has been discussed several times during previous parliamentary sessions of this committee. I would like to refer to statements made on October 9, 2003, by Mr. Martin Grégoire, who was the union president at the time.

Mr. Grégoire stated:

We believe there is a limit to the number of frequencies and noise that a human being can listen to. We believe there is a limit to the knowledge an employee may have of an extended geographical area. We believe there is a limit to the workload that a single employee can handle at any given time. We believe local presence and knowledge is important in order to provide adequate services, and we believe a reduced number of centres increases the risk of losing all communications over an extended geographical area, as opposed to a limited and smaller geographical area with many smaller centres, when facing major events like hurricanes, floods, ice storms, fires, or earthquakes.

These statements are still valid today, and we can add tsunamis to the list of major events.

The slides that I am about to show you are just a few of the many statistics that have been gathered from the various studies. The first couple of slides I will go over quite quickly because there are a lot of numbers.

The next one is a graphical representation, but it definitely shows that the workload of Pacific region, which is now western region, is double the other four regions that have been combined now to central and Arctic region, and Atlantic region. These are all using the statistics compiled from our vessel traffic management information system between 2011 and 2014.

The next two slides display the same vessel traffic movement statistics for 2013 and 2014, and show that 50% of the vessel movements occur in western region. This slide not only shows national 2015 statistics but breaks down western region into the traffic positions of the three remaining centres in western region after Tofino's area moved to Prince Rupert and Vancouver harbour moved to Victoria.

In the bottom pie chart are the four busiest positions: blue, which is the south area; red, which is Bowen; green, which is the harbour; and purple, which is Comox. That all makes up 83% of vessel movements in western region. These would be the four positions that are going to be put together in Victoria.

One of the reasons the old Vancouver VTS was split up was that it was determined that the combined workload for the entire area would have been excessive for one centre after amalgamation with Coast Guard radio. The checkout rate, or success rate, for new officers training in Vancouver VTS was just above 50%, due to the complexity of this centre. Since the split of Vancouver traffic into what was Victoria, Vancouver, and Comox, the checkout rate rose considerably.

The next three slides are taken from the maritime search and rescue annual reports. Again, they are showing the high volume of incidents handled from Pacific or western region, with Pacific being on the left and the other four regions that have combined following that.

I want to draw your attention to this map. This shows the location of most of the incidents in western or Pacific region. As the high density of dots indicate, this is all of Comox's area right now. This was Vancouver's. This is all Victoria's area. Again, the highest concentration, a majority of the events, are all occurring in the three centres that are scheduled to be consolidated.

Now let's look at post-consolidation staffing levels. Victoria and Prince Rupert will be handling over 50% of the traffic movements and a majority of the maritime incidents, yet, after consolidation, they're expected to handle this workload with only two centres.

This disparity continues on with funding as well. This was taken from the Canadian Coast Guard integrated business and human resource plan of the total allocation of funding for 2014-15. This is still with Comox operating prior to consolidation. Western region, with a three-centre configuration, still delivers an efficient, cost-effective service to the maritime stakeholders and is handling a majority of the workload.

Now I'm going to switch to a program that will demonstrate the sites. The green circles represent all our remote sites. There have been a lot of questions about our transmitter towers and receivers. These are all the sites that send and receive data from our communications centres.

What are some of the advantages to keeping Comox open? We have a great opportunity to minimize the risks by keeping Comox MCTS open and redistributing the workload among the three centres.

During evidence heard by this committee—and it was restated here—a number of the issues of outages were linked to third party providers. Mr. Pelletier stated on February 23 that we rely on third party providers to bring the signal from a tower to the other more centralized centres. If I look at the majority of outages, it is due to the third parties.

There has been some discussion today about the cost of keeping Comox open, the cost of modernizing Comox, because, yes, the equipment we're using is outdated, but all the new communications equipment is installed at Comox centre. That is where it is sitting right now. It is already installed at each of the remote sites that are on that chart. The only portion of the modernization that is not in Comox right now is the consoles and the equipment that is sitting in Victoria.

Those two extra operating positions in Victoria could just as easily be installed in Comox. That is where the equipment resides. That is where it switches over to the third party provider and that data is sent from Comox down to Victoria, the same way the data that came to MCTS Tofino and Ucluelet is transmitted all the way from Ucluelet via a third party provider up to Prince Rupert.

Third party providers are used to carry all the digitized data—the voice, the AIS, and the radar—that's collected at Amphitrite Point, which is the former Tofino MCTS site, and send it all the way to Prince Rupert. The U.S. Coast Guard vessel traffic service at Seattle was extremely concerned with this risk, as it relies heavily on the ability of Tofino MCTS, now Prince Rupert, to manage the approaches to the Strait of Juan de Fuca as part of the co-operative vessel traffic services agreement.

Their concern was evident when they proposed a plan and purchased equipment, which is at the Tofino MCTS site, to install a microwave link that would carry the radar and communications data to the VTS operation in Seattle in the event the Prince Rupert MCTS lost the capability of providing VTS services in this area. This equipment has not yet been installed. This data could easily have been routed to Comox via microwave links to minimize third party networks and eliminate the risk of sending this data to Prince Rupert.

With respect to costs—

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Mr. Gross, I hate to interrupt you and I'm sorry, but your 10 minutes are up. Do you want to finish up your presentation very briefly? We have to go on to Mr. Hodge.

[Dale Gross]

Okay, I will be very brief.

I only have one final comment, and that is to commend the officers at Comox MCTS. Through all the turmoil of the last four years they have displayed dedication and professionalism in delivering the MCTS program to our clients. If the Coast Guard follows through with the consolidation of Comox MCTS, we will be losing several excellent officers in addition to those we have already lost in Tofino and Vancouver.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Hodge, your opening remarks are next.

[Scott Hodge, Vice-President, Western Region - Local 2182, Unifor]

I'd like to thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.

I'm here because the Coast Guard's marine communications officers believe that the Coast Guard is acting recklessly to close traffic and communication centres, putting our coasts and the people who live, work, and play in these waterways in danger.

Before I get into more detail, I want to briefly discuss my qualifications.

I grew up in Vancouver and have lived on the west coast for over 35 years. I spent 12 years in the Canadian Armed Forces as an electronics technician, which gave me the opportunity to travel across the country. After a training accident, I was released from the armed forces in 1992 and joined the Canadian Coast Guard as a marine traffic regulator in Vancouver. I transferred to Comox in 1997. Since consolidation was announced in 2012, I have worked in the Vancouver MCTS until it closed, on assignment there, and in the Victoria MCTS as well, because of short-staffing. While working in Victoria MCTS, I requalified to work in all the vessel traffic and safety positions at that centre.

When I started working for the Coast Guard in Vancouver in 1992, vessel traffic services and Coast Guard radio were separate but complementary. VTS is much like air traffic control for ships, and the main function of Coast Guard radio is to act like a 911 radio service for mariners.

During the 1990s, something very important happened to this country's Coast Guard that I want you to reflect on. My union recognized that new technology, such as cellphones and satellite communications, would soon make some of the work they did and the offices they performed redundant. The union presented the Coast Guard with a proposal to merge Coast Guard radio and vessel traffic services. The merger of these two services would create greater efficiencies by combining operations and would allow a reduction in staffing through attrition rather than layoffs. The savings from this merger would be about $14.5 million a year.

After consultation with stakeholders and a risk assessment were completed, the Coast Guard agreed. Between 1995 and 1999, 30 Coast Guard radio stations and 14 vessel traffic services centres were closed or merged together to form 22 marine communications and traffic services across the country.

During the reorganization, the technology was available at that time to combine Vancouver traffic, Vancouver radio, and Comox radio into one centre, but this was not done for important operational reasons.

The first was emergency backup. Due to the locations of the three centres, if any one centre lost communications, the other two would be able to cover the gap, thus helping to ensure the safety of mariners travelling in this area. The workload and vessel traffic complexity that would have resulted was too great for one centre.

Next was training. It could take up to two years to train an employee to work in such a large and complex centre. It was felt that breaking the centre up would result in a higher retention rate because trainees would be given an opportunity to be more successful. Also, the fact was that the building that housed Comox Coast Guard radio had just been opened in 1993 and was designed to allow for expansion without having to do any major construction.

As a result, Vancouver traffic was split up, with one part moved to Comox in 1996. In 1998 and 1999, the remaining part was split into Vancouver and Victoria. In other words, marine communications officers have not just consented but have initiated policy discussions about consolidation of bases. What's happened over the last few years is very different, and we cannot sign off on the latest round of closures for public safety reasons.

One of these reasons is disaster management. As previously mentioned, the building housing the Comox MCTS centre was opened in 1993. Comox MCTS is the only Coast Guard communications centre in B.C. that is not located in a tsunami zone and is built to earthquake standards. The building is located approximately 100 feet above sea level on Cape Lazo, with a commanding view of the northern Strait of Georgia. All vessel traffic transiting the inside passage must pass by this point. If Comox is allowed to close, our west coast communications network could be paralyzed in the event of a tsunami event.

Beyond natural disaster, the closure of Coast Guard centres has not adequately considered officer workload and expertise. The Coast Guard has closed nine of the 22 centres in Canada. The decision was made without consulting industry, mariners, the public, or the union.

In B.C., three of the five centres were scheduled to close. The Tofino MCTS centre was closed and the work moved to Prince Rupert in April of 2015, without any of the previously qualified and trained officers moving. Vancouver MCTS was closed in May of 2015 and the work was moved to Victoria. Only five of the 11 officers actually moved.

The Comox MCTS centre is scheduled to close in May, and the work will also be moved to Victoria. Eleven officers are required to move with the work; six to eight officers may actually move. This will increase the staffing shortage already felt in Victoria even further and result in overtime costs that could reach $2.2 million per year. These shortages have resulted in occasions where members have worked for 30 days in a row or more.

As a result, the first, second, and fourth-busiest MCTS centres in the country are to be combined into one centre in Victoria that will be carrying over 40% of the MCTS workload of the entire country.

I'd like to conclude by summarizing my members' concerns and policy recommendations.

On tsunami alerting, Comox MCTS is the Coast Guard's tsunami alerting centre and is the only Coast Guard communication centre on the west coast that is not in a tsunami zone. With regard to emergency backup, keeping Comox MCTS open helps to ensure that radio coverage of the busy lower Strait of Georgia and the approaches to Vancouver harbour are maintained in case of a central outage.

On costs, the costs associated with moving Comox MCTS to Victoria—up to $1 million for relocation, $2.2 million a year for overtime due to short-staffing, and the cost to train new staff—far outweigh the cost of keeping it open, which would be between $400,000 and $500,000 a year.

As for staffing, keeping Comox MCTS open helps to ensure that the shortage of staff at Victoria MCTS is not made worse by the departure of experienced staff when Comox closes. The Coast Guard regional management in B.C. was so concerned about this that they asked Coast Guard management in Ottawa to delay the closure until at least October of this year, and to possibly keep the centre open.

With regard to workload, relocating Comox MCTS to Victoria would set up a scenario in which over 40% of the MCTS workload in Canada would be handled from one location.

With regard to local knowledge, local knowledge is very important because local people often use local names for places. For instance, in the Comox vessel traffic zone, there are two places called Twin Islands, two places called God's Pocket, and two places called Hole-in-the-Wall. Over half of the staff will not be relocating if Comox MCTS closes, and this will result in the loss of knowledge that cannot be easily replaced.

On technical problems, there are concerns that relocating Comox MCTS could result in the same echo problems that have plagued other MCTS centres since they were modernized.

As for marine safety, in his mandate letter the minister was asked to improve marine safety. How does closing the only MCTS centre in B.C. that is not in a tsunami zone improve marine safety?

The government's decision to reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard base has sent a strong signal to British Columbians that public safety, the protection of property, and the integrity of the environment are worth protecting. The federal government should apply these principles to the important work of the Coast Guard's west coast marine traffic safety monitoring and cancel the closure of the Comox MCTS centre.

A moment ago I briefly referred to technical problems, specifically the problems with the communications control system, or CCS, that is currently being used in many of the communications centres. It's the new technology. This technology has been plagued with issues since its implementation, which started in 2012. The problems with CCS are systemic.

To give you a better understanding, I brought along a recording of a Coast Guard transmission, which was obtained through freedom of information. The audio exchange originates from a marine traffic and communications service centre in Iqaluit, which was the first centre to be modernized. It clearly demonstrates that at times Coast Guard transmissions are unintelligible.

[Audio presentation]

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Mr. Hodge, thank you for that. Your 10 minutes are now up. Perhaps you can get your concluding remarks, if you have any, into the question and answer period.

Folks, since I'm new, I should have been a little more judicious over the time at the beginning. We won't have any time for committee business if we go through one round of seven minutes each, so I would seek unanimous consent to extend this meeting to 5:40. We probably only need five minutes for committee business.

Can I get unanimous consent to extend this meeting to 5:40 p.m., and we'll do one seven-minute round?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you very much, committee. They're a good bunch to get along with here. What can I tell you?

For questioning, we'll start with Ms. Jordan for seven minutes.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the presentation. I have a number of questions, and I'll start off with the recording we just heard. When was that taken?

[Scott Hodge]

That was Iqaluit Coast Guard radio in the spring of 2012.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

If we were to hear the same recording again today, would it sound exactly the same as that?

[Scott Hodge]

I was in Prince Rupert in January after they made the fix they talked about at the Coast Guard briefing. It does sound like that still.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Okay.

You talked about the loss of officers and the number of people who are expected to go Victoria, but they'll only have six. Is that because they're electing not to move or is it because of retirement? What's the reason? Are they being offered positions elsewhere and not taking them? I'm just questioning why there seems to be a discrepancy there.

[Scott Hodge]

All the officers were offered positions in Victoria. Most of them chose not to go, and not just for reasons of relocation. They did not want to work in Victoria. Victoria MCTS currently has five operating positions. In the same room where they have those five, they're now putting 10. The noise levels will be very high. Most of my members, myself included.... I'm personally worried about going to work there.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

If they haven't gone, I would question how they would know that it's bad. That's just a comment.

You also talked about outages. Are these outages that are happening, or that have happened, not outages that could happen anyway? Were there never any outages before all of these transitions started to take place? Were outages never a possibility until all of these changes started?

[Scott Hodge]

I think we're getting lost in the new technology here, because the new technology is just part of the whole thing. The reason to not close Comox is not just to do with technology. As Mr. Gross pointed out, the equipment was all purchased to go into those centres anyway. It's just being put in Victoria rather than in Comox.

The reason to keep Comox open is for redundancy, emergency coverage, and staffing issues. Victoria is already short five and a half staff. They're going to be short 10, once Comox goes there, and that's out of a full staff of 50 people. Over the past few months, they couldn't cover 50 shifts of overtime. Their overtime budget was $400,000. This year it will be $1 million.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I asked specifically about the outages. Have there been outages before?