Evidence of meeting #68 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes, we do. The Amundsen is in refit right now. We have a continual cycle of pulling a vessel out and putting it through refit.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
How many icebreakers will you have available for service over the next number of years?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Generally we have seven icebreakers available for work in the Arctic in the summer. The Amundsen is dedicated to science, not to regular coast guard business. So with one in refit, we would have six in total, five doing coast guard work.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Last summer we had actually two incidents of ice blockages on supply passages for the north. Is that correct?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Maybe you could talk a little bit about those incidents, because I think they're very important to us.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
There was significant ice blockage in Frobisher Bay. It was quite unusual. It hadn't been seen in many years, with vessels having a hard time getting in and out of Frobisher Bay due to the ice. We had two icebreakers there for most of the month of July, breaking vessels in and out, in order to provide resupply into Iqaluit. It took a significant amount of time.
That's what we do. We're an operational organization. We look at where the vessels are needed and readjust the programs of every other vessel.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
On the west coast, was there another blockage in maybe U.S. waters?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Two years ago, yes, there was a problem with getting fuel into the community of Barrow, I believe, in Alaska. Their heavy icebreaker Healy was not available. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, our medium icebreaker on the west coast, was already down south, and it wasn't suitable for the kind of work needed. I believe a Russian icebreaker had to be contracted.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thank you very much.
We'll finish up with Mr. Williamson.
You have five minutes, sir.
February 28th, 2013 / 11:50 a.m.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you, Chair.
I can't imagine what it would be like planning for the Arctic. My riding is New Brunswick Southwest. It includes Passamaquoddy Bay in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. Many of these overlap. We have a dispute with the Americans over the right of innocent passage through Head Harbour. We have a territorial dispute at Machias Seal Island with the Americans. We have small icebergs...or actually, they're not really icebergs, but we have ice, water hazards, tides, and even there it's a challenge. Last summer a boat was marooned due to low tide. I believe it was DFO that had to send in experts to make sure there was no hazardous contamination on the surface...which was used for clamming. And that's just one small area, which is relatively heavily populated compared with anything in the north, so it's a huge, huge task.
I want to follow up, since this was opened up and it's something that's increasingly talked about, on the transportation of what I suspect would be oil through the north. I'm approaching this with not a lot of background, so I might ask some very basic questions. Is that something that's currently happening? Do tankers run closer to Russia, or on our side, or...? What is the route?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Tankers go through the Arctic to do community resupply of fuel all summer.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Are they the size of the Exxon Valdez, for example, or are they smaller?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Well, they range in size.
Conservative
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
In terms of risks, the Exxon Valdez, of course, was well known, and that was captain error. The risks of oil tankers at this time in the Arctic are, when they do the resupply, spills at that point.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Yes. That's obviously a concern. In through Canadian ports, there's more oversight.
Are we seeing tankers going through, just using the waterways, to get from point A to point B?
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
No.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Do we expect that's going to happen, or is...?
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security Group, Department of Transport
Not imminently, I don't think.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
As we said, the Northwest Passage and the waters in the Arctic, the other routes available, are inherently still dangerous. The shippers know that, especially tankers. They don't take risks.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Right. So when we talk about oil tankers, it's not so much what the public generally thinks of as tankers, but it's helping communities fill their oil tanks in the winter so they can have heat like Canadians, which I think is altogether a different equation.
Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes.
Conservative
John Williamson Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB
I'm wondering if your departments have given any thought to this. We hear, with the challenges of the northern gateway, the talk about trucking oil somehow north—pipeline, rail—and then taking it out by ship.
Have you had any discussions on that internally yet, or any thoughts on what that might mean to challenges from northern ports?