National Defence Committee on Jan. 31st, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to our committee today. I want to thank you for being with us. This is meeting 41 of the Standing Committee on National Defence.

We have with us today, from the Gander International Airport Authority, Mr. Reg Wright and Mr. Fred Moffitt. Thank you for being with us.

We also have, from the town council of Gander, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Turner. Thank you for being with us.

Finally, as an individual, we have Mr. Johnson. Thank you.

We'll start with our witnesses from the Gander International Airport Authority. After that we'll hear from the town council of Gander, and then from Mr. Johnson. Each group will have five to seven minutes.

If you want to start, I'll give you the floor. Thank you.

[Fred Moffitt, Chairperson, Gander International Airport Authority Inc.]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I met quite a few of you this morning, in my capacity as honorary colonel of 103 Squadron, but I've changed my suit this afternoon. I now have on the hat of the chairperson of the Gander International Airport Authority.

I have to apologize for Gary Vey, our CEO. He's stricken down with the flu and is unable to be with us. Mr. Reg Wright is our director of marketing at the airport. I'm going to hand it over to him to make our presentation.

[Reg Wright, Director of Marketing, Gander International Airport Authority Inc.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the esteemed members of the standing committee for the opportunity to speak today regarding search and rescue response times.

Again, my name is Reg Wright, and I'm the director of communications for the Gander International Airport Authority. We are a not-for-profit organization created in 1996 to manage organizations at Gander International Airport, and we play a key role in the economic and community development of the Town of Gander and the central Newfoundland region.

The airport is a source of stable, year-round employment for the region and a significant economic engine. An independent study undertaken in 2006 found that the airport directly sustains 1,200 jobs in the province, with $107 million in gross domestic product, $312 million in economic output, and $70 million in wages. Ongoing economic activity at the airport contributes $32 million annually in tax revenue, including $20.6 million to the federal government and $10.7 million to the provincial government.

I provide this background because it should be recognized that the Gander International Airport Authority--and indeed the entire central Newfoundland region--has a vested commercial and operational interest in the matters we discuss today. As a joint civilian-military airfield, the importance of CFB 9 Wing Gander and 103 Search and Rescue Squadron cannot be overstated. The military presence in Gander has long made an important and invaluable contribution to the community, historically, economically, and socially.

Gander International Airport has served military aviation since its inception. In 1938, with the threat of war rumbling in Europe, Gander fast became a strategic allied air base. Gander became the main staging point for the movement of more than 20,000 North American-built bombers to Europe during the Battle of Britain. At the height of wartime operations, as many as 15,000 British, Canadian, and American servicemen lived and worked in crowded barracks at the airport.

Even today, military aviation remains a cornerstone of our operation. While the lion's share of military traffic at Gander is from the United States and Canada, the airport also accommodates military aircraft from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Israel, India, Mexico, Poland, and others. If a nation has an air force, we've seen it at Gander at one point or another, be it on a training mission, en route to an area of conflict, or providing humanitarian support.

The airport authority is fully supportive of its partners at CFB 9 Wing Gander. In particular, we share our community's pride in the work of 103 Search and Rescue Squadron. These men and women have one of the most difficult jobs on the planet, in one of the world's most difficult marine operating environments.

It is a job that demands an extraordinarily high level of courage, training, skill, and commitment. It is a job where a successful rescue mission is expected. Where a rescue mission fails, the squadron is immediately subjected to a very public discussion of what went wrong and who might be accountable. These men and women provide an essential service to people who ply a trade in a very dangerous place.

If I might convey just one thing here today, it is this: search and rescue professionals require the best possible resources and support to ensure they can continue to succeed in every mission, every day.

I guess a focal point of your work here today will involve a discussion around response times, positioning, and resources. Coming from an airport management perspective, I do not think I have the background or capacity to give great insight into this. Thankfully, a number of independent experts have already examined the greater question of SAR resources and positioning over the last decade.

Back in 2003, Dr. Norman Corbett undertook a study called “The Impact of Offshore Oil Operations on the Delivery of East Coast Search and Rescue Services”, for the Canadian Air Division Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, which may also win a record for the world's longest study report. Among other things, the study assessed whether dedicated SAR assets should be moved from Gander to St. John's and whether doing so would provide an improved response to a distress call related to the offshore oil industry.

As you know, the oil and gas industry is the crucial economic engine for the provincial economy and has witnessed great and heightened activity over the last decade. Without belabouring what is a comprehensive and complex analysis of this question, Dr. Corbett concluded--and I quote--that “coverage offered by Gander is...better than that offered by St. John's” at all distances.

While all eastern Canadian airports operate in often trying conditions, it has to be recognized that Gander does provide an inherent advantage over St. John's in terms of weather. To refer back to Dr. Corbett's report--and I quote--he indicated that: “When historical conditions are considered, Gander is the preferred location. Indeed, critical weather conditions occur more frequently in St. John's, with the most notable differences occurring in the spring and summer months”.

In terms of operating environment, weather reliability, and total critical weather conditions, Gander does provide an advantageous operating environment for search and rescue operations.

The other component of Dr. Corbett's study involved total transit and on-station times with regard to response. Again he concluded--and I quote--that a deployment from Gander generally results in faster transit times.

More recently, the National Research Council released its review of the statement of operational requirements for the fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft. This review found that basing fixed-wing assets in Gander rather than Greenwood would result in the greatest improvement in response times.

To summarize, both studies recognize that Gander, both as an airport and as a community, represents the best location for SAR resources. Beyond the weather reliability and transit times, the community and the airport have a number of other advantages: Gander International Airport is a 24/7 full-service airport with no curfews or restrictions; everything at our airport is offered 24/7, 365 days a year; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is co-located on airport property; we are a congestion-free airport with a rate of nearly 100% direct clearances from our tower; CFB Gander is expanding its infrastructure and already has well established military supports throughout the community; and, locally, the College of the North Atlantic produces world-class aircraft maintenance engineers eager to find a career locally and contribute to the SAR endeavour.

Despite Canada’s healthy fiscal condition, we acknowledge that the Department of National Defence is under pressure to exercise financial stewardship while addressing important matters of a national and international scope.

I will say that the Gander International Airport Authority is a willing and progressive partner with DND. If an expansion or enhancement of SAR services is to take place in Gander, or new aircraft is to be added to the fleet, we can work jointly to invest in the infrastructure and operating supports to ensure this is done in the most cost-effective and efficient manner. We have made this commitment to our partner at the CFB, and I reiterate that here today. As an airport authority, we are prepared to provide whatever resources or investment is required to assist 103 in meeting its mandate.

If I can say one thing with conviction, it is that the move or dilution of current assets from Gander to any other site would serve only a niche commercial interest that stands to benefit from the same. I think exhaustive study and assessment by experts clearly demonstrate that Gander is the best choice and location for any enhancement of SAR staffing, resources, or fleeting.

So the task at hand is to determine what might be done to improve response times and mission success given changes in technology, fleeting, and marine activity. I would suggest the impossible by saying that these decisions need to be made purely on the basis of operational exemplars, that is, what is best to achieve the SAR mandate. I do recognize that it is very difficult to extract politics, lobbying, the interests of special interest groups, and capitalism from the process, but, at day’s end, I think all stakeholders and residents will be comfortable with any decision so long as it is premised on the best possible support for SAR providers and the greater community they serve.

To conclude, SAR professionals gladly undertake the challenge of one of the world’s most difficult jobs, in a dangerous North Atlantic operating environment. Our shared goal should be to support a decision that provides the enhancements and support to ensure they effectively meet their mission.

I thank you for the opportunity to present our views today and wish you every success with your hearings.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

That you very much, Mr. Wright.

I'll give the floor to the Town Council of Gander, Mr. Tucker.

[Zane Tucker, Deputy Mayor, Town Council of Gander]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.

Search and rescue has helped define the people of Gander since the Newfoundland Airport officially opened in January of 1938, long before the Town of Gander even existed. The challenge of locating and retrieving downed flyers was a very necessary and all too frequent part of airport operations throughout the Second World War, continued through the subsequent development of commercial aviation, and today remains a key part of daily life of our community as long-time host to 103 Search and Rescue.

It's a field in which we are perhaps uniquely experienced, having learned first-hand the trade through both necessity and invention and, more recently, advocating seemingly year after year on behalf of the SAR professionals we have the privilege of hosting in our community.

Before we discuss the critical and often emotional issue of SAR response times and level of service, allow me to reiterate the position consistently held by current and previous town councils of Gander: that we fully and unequivocally support the staff, both military and civilian, at 103 Search and Rescue Squadron and their counterparts across our country. We share their dedication to providing the best possible services to Canadians within the constraints of infrastructure and resource allocation, and we appreciate the opportunity to address the committee towards that end.

In particular, the issues of response times and SAR resource allocation have been raised repeatedly in recent years, mainly in direct response to marine or aeronautical incidents resulting in the loss of life. These incidents include the involvement of the Ryan's Commander, the Melina and Keith II, the Check-Mate III, and, most recently, the Cougar crash involving offshore oil workers in 2009. Most often, the ensuing discussion involves the proposed transfer of SAR assets currently located in Gander to a base in St. John's or the establishment of duplicate SAR services in St. John's.

Numerous studies commissioned by the federal government have examined this question and have consistently found that Gander is the optimal location not only for a Halifax SAR base but also for a fixed-wing SAR aircraft base, which is currently located in Greenwood, Nova Scotia.

In terms of additional protection for offshore oil workers or the perceived neglect of offshore oil workers in SAR resource allocation, the Town of Gander takes the position that this sector not only has equal access to our military SAR services, but has an additional advantage of industry-supplied SAR services offered under contract by Cougar itself. Improvements specific to this sector could best be achieved by legislating minimum industry SAR standards to include at least one dedicated SAR helicopter and such SAR-trained crew as required to provide 24/7 operational readiness.

Search and rescue operations throughout eastern Canada, whether they be aeronautical, marine, or land based, are coordinated by the joint rescue centre in Halifax. The 103 Rescue Squadron is charged with providing search and rescue capability to the Halifax Joint Rescue Coordination Centre 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are responsible for covering approximately 4.7 million square kilometres, of which 80% is covered by water.

The number of SAR cases in Newfoundland and Labrador is twice the national average, making the squadron one of the busiest in the country. On average, 103 Squadron responds to more than 100 calls on a yearly basis. The majority of its missions are marine based. SAR crews routinely find vessels in distress or overdue and evacuate sick or injured seamen.

The squadron's 92 military personnel and civilian employees operate three CH-149 Cormorant helicopters. The Cormorant can carry 12 stretchers, or a load of 5,000 kilograms, and its ice protection system allows it to operate in continuous icing conditions. Meanwhile, Gander is the only SAR base in Canada operating without fixed-wing aircraft. Cormorant missions from Gander are instead supported by the Hercules aircraft, which is currently based in Greenwood, Nova Scotia.

In terms of operational readiness, 103 Squadron maintains its 30-minute standby posture 40 hours per week, and a two-hour standby for the remaining 128 hours, typically nights and weekends. The optimal allocation of SAR resources should provide for the fastest possible response to the greatest number of incidents. This is achieved through the analysis and periodic review of the geographic locations of historical incidents and also the number of people at risk as a result of those incidents. Within the Halifax SRR, maritime incidents comprised the vast majority of missions--approximately 75% in the period from 2002 to 2008--with aeronautical incidents accounting for less than 7% over that same period.

People potentially at risk in the SRR include: aircraft passengers, both domestic and international, and passengers carried by Marine Atlantic between North Sydney and Port aux Basques, North Sydney and Argentia, and the Island of Newfoundland and ports along the Labrador coast, as well as local ferry systems, resource harvesters, including hunters, fisher persons, loggers, and miners, and oil industry workers.

A comprehensive study on the impact of offshore oil operations on the east coast SAR by the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis, released in December of 2000, provides perhaps the best data set to date on the issue of response times. Its various conclusions have since been referenced and supported by other federal studies, and it concludes that Gander remains the best possible location from which to save the most lives in terms of incident coverage, transit times, on-station times, accounting for the number of persons at risk in various scenarios, weather limitations, and even the impact of extending the range of the Cormorant helicopters.

As recently as March 12, 2010, the National Research Council observed that basing fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft in Gander would immediately improve coverage for the region. In discussing the statement of operational requirements for fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft, the NRC was critical of constraints imposed within the SOR that severely limited options for replacing Canada's fixed-wing SAR fleet.

Specifically, the NRC's final report noted the constraint that the current four main operating bases remain unchanged. I quote:

...it is clear that the existing bases of Greenwood, Trenton, Winnipeg and Comox do not represent the best option for SAR response. In particular, basing aircraft in Gander rather than Greenwood would have had a significant positive impact on the response time to a vast majority of the incidents examined as the range required to respond to 90% of historical incidents reduced from 653 nautical miles (nm) to 533 nm. The analysis shows that “the greatest reduction in cruise speed that can be achieved by moving a single base arises when the Main Operating Base (MOB) in Greenwood is relocated to Gander.”

The mandatory requirement for aircraft range was derived based on an incident in the mid-Atlantic...with response from Greenwood and a refuelling stop in St. John's. However, a Gander base in lieu of Greenwood, had it been considered in the SOR, would have impacted the range requirements of a single aircraft solution slightly by requiring an increase in the range requirements for a new aircraft by 45 nm...while the response would be greatly improved as a transit leg from Greenwood to St. John's plus a 1-hour refuelling stop would be unnecessary.

Given the existing SAR role of the Cormorant in Gander, and the improvement in response time of a platform based there, it is unfortunate that such a basing option is excluded due to this constraint.

While many of the issues related to the positioning of military SAR resources have been studied and debated for years, any discussion of increasing allocations today must also address the attrition of trained and experienced SAR personnel from the ranks of the military, which cannot currently compete with the wages and benefits offered in private sector SAR operations. This attrition already threatens to degrade the existing level of SAR services and must be addressed immediately to prevent serious impacts on our overall capacity.

In a presentation to SAR professionals in October 2003, Brian F. Stone, superintendent of Maritime Search and Rescue, Canadian Coast Guard, Newfoundland and Labrador division, said:

In many industries safety has become a game of money, numbers, and statistics. A company can now decide an appropriate expenditure per life saved, calculating safety decisions mathematically. While it is vital that a corporation consider the statistics of risks to workers along with the costs to protect them, the goal is to protect the lives [of] each individual worker. Just because a company can financially handle the loss of a worker does not mean that it should not do everything possible to protect workers from injuries. Safety is not simply about numbers; it is about lives.

As a nation, we have the knowledge, skills, experience, and technology to provide the highest standards of search and rescue services available anywhere in the world. The level of service we ultimately offer is limited only by the priority we assign to this service and the investment we are willing to make in its provision.

The Town of Gander recognizes that SAR response times can be improved through any or all the following changes to current resource allocation and/or policies, and we urge this committee to give full and fair consideration to each of our five recommendations: one, upgrade 103 Squadron to a 30-minute operational readiness posture 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or extend the current 30-minute posture to such days and hours in which the highest number of missions has historically been recorded; two, assign one or more dedicated fixed-wing aircraft to Gander to extend the range and on-station times in the critical stages of search operations; three, assign an additional Cormorant aircraft to Gander to help eliminate periods when maintenance, repairs, or training missions mean that no aircraft is immediately available in the event of an emergency; four, ensure that routine maintenance and training be scheduled such that at least one aircraft and crew are always available to respond from Gander in a timely manner; and lastly, address the growing issues of the recruitment and retention of military search and rescue personnel.

Thank you very much for your attention this afternoon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Thank you very much, Mr. Tucker.

I'll give the floor to Mr. Johnson.

[Albert Johnson, Fisherman, As an Individual]

My name is Albert Johnson. I'm a fisherman.

I think Scott was going to ask me some questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

Do you want to--

[Albert Johnson]

I won't make a presentation. Mr. Simms was going to ask me some questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Maxime Bernier]

All right, perfect.

The first member we'll hear from is Mr. Simms.

You have the floor for seven minutes.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Thank you.

I want to thank all the guests for coming.

First of all, to the committee, welcome to Gander. Although with Mr. Tucker in the room as deputy mayor, I'm probably not as qualified.... Welcome to Gander, and I hope you enjoy your stay. I wish you could be here longer to spend oodles of money, but I guess we'll take what we can get.

I want to thank the guests for coming here. As I discussed earlier, I'm glad you came here as both the authority and the town to give the committee a sense...and to read into the record just how linked this base is with this community and the entire region. To hear this from the deputy mayor, who certainly has a handle on how this works--I've often joked that Mr. Turner, who's the chief administrative officer, probably knows enough about this base to get a second job in operations over at the base itself.

Several years ago there was a campaign here called SOS—Save Our Squadron. I think it was a learning experience for everybody within this community. Everybody in this community and this region knew about search and rescue, about response times. Fixed-wing search and rescue, although it's puzzling to some, basically means search and rescue airplanes. You mention the words “fixed-wing search and rescue” to anybody in this community and we know what you're talking about. We've argued for quite some time about the presence of that.

I just want to get a quick comment, before I go to Mr. Johnson, about the traffic activity you've seen at the airport, as immense as it is with medevac and that sort of thing, and also from the town itself, and about what a great contribution search and rescue has made, from a citizen's point of view, and from the point of view of airmen and airwomen who come here.

[Zane Tucker]

Did you want to speak to the airport first, Reg?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

You can talk about the airport first.

[Reg Wright]

It's fairly evident that search and rescue is the primary contributor to the whole dynamic of why our airport is there. Gander is purpose-built as an emergency alternate. We play a support role not just for the CFB and for the Canadian Forces, but of course for those from around the world.

[Zane Tucker]

Obviously, from the town's point of view, as Reg alluded to, there are historical ties with our airport. Gander is often known as the lifeboat of the Atlantic, so I guess we're used to that rescue role. In terms of the impact on the town, just in dollars, we have over 90 people who work at our search and rescue squadron. In a municipality of our size, obviously, that's very significant, and they're a great integral part of our community.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

And the integral part that this town played with 9/11 obviously gives you an idea of just how strategic this place is geographically, which is why it's nice to hear you're a strong advocate for fixed-wing search and rescue.

Mr. Johnson, some time ago you told me the story of an offshore incident. First of all, as a bit of background, you're an offshore fisherman. Is that correct?

[Albert Johnson]

That's right.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

That's for crab and turbot?

[Albert Johnson]

Yes.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

How far offshore do you go?

[Albert Johnson]

I go as far as 130 miles from Cape Bonavista.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

How long would that take?

[Albert Johnson]

When we're fishing turbot, we're out there for probably five or six days.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

You're also a member of the coast guard auxiliary. Is that right?

[Albert Johnson]

Yes, I have been for the last 25 years.