National Defence Committee on Dec. 8th, 2016

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Hutchinson, you talked a bit about critical financial constraints and how you were doing a comprehensive review of the finances. In looking at the briefing document that we received from the Library of Parliament, I have some concerns, because the Canada Transportation Act review report, which was submitted in December 2015 and tabled this past February, noted that the Canadian Coast Guard fleet “is one of the oldest in the world and urgently requires renewal (individual ships average nearly 34 years of age).”

It seems, according to this briefing, that the Canadian Coast Guard has been kind of neglected. You mentioned that you are working on a 30-year plan for fleet renewal. Can you talk to us a little about those challenges? This fleet has not been renewed, and our procurement cycle, as you know, is not something that can be accomplished overnight, in terms of getting new assets.

Could you talk to us a bit about how you've been trying to manage those challenges and capability gaps because of a lack of procurement and planning in the last few years?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Certainly. Again, that's a very broad question. The bottom line, in terms of keeping the ships operating, is this. We refer to ship maintenance in three categories. There is regulatory maintenance, the things we have to do for Transport Canada to approve our ships for sailing. Then there are operational requirements that we have to address—think of a ship that can legally go to sea but doesn't have the crane on board that it needs to do the job it's going to do. That's an operational requirement.

The third is preventative maintenance, which is like changing the oil or the brake pads in your car before you crash, that kind of thing. We currently spend about one per cent of what we should spend on preventative maintenance. That means the reliability of our vessels is very much resting on our ability to do the urgent and the operational. That's not a sustainable model. As the ships age, that will present a greater and greater challenge.

Now, all of that, that whole scenario, has been looked at through the comprehensive review. I won't go further on that at the moment, because it is yet to be presented to cabinet, and I don't want to overstep in terms of what will be presented to cabinet.

So we have a maintenance issue, and then there is the history of procurement in the Coast Guard. Just to be clear, this spans every government; there is no political tone to this comment. Like other large procurements in government, it tends to happen in fits and starts, and it might be the case that over the last period of time the Coast Guard has not been in the public eye as much as it could have been. The last few years, we've had as much press as we can handle, but prior to that.... When you are in the background and procurement is happening in fits and starts, maybe you get more fits than starts through that process.

We would strongly advocate that the replacement of our fleet, through the national shipbuilding strategy, be put on a pace whereby ships will come out regularly to replace older ships. The average age of our fleet now is very high, as you've noted. It's going to get higher before we replace capacity, getting into the mid-20s and late 20s, as I was referring to earlier, but when we are at the mature state in the national shipbuilding strategy, with steady capital dollars, we'll be able to bring that average age down and then maintain it at a much more reasonable level than it's getting to right now.

So, we have to bring up the maintenance dollars and have a long-term procurement that is backed by long-term funding, not in massive amounts, but just at a good steady state.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

You mentioned that right now you are hopeful that we would be able to create a...I don't want to say “production line” of assets for the Canadian Coast Guard.

If you had to prioritize right now, what would be the biggest priority for you, whether it be assets or human assets? What would be the priority for the Canadian Coast Guard right now, in terms of spending? We'd love to be able to give you everything you need, but we need to know what the priorities are. I'm assuming this is something that's going to be delivered to cabinet, as you mentioned, so if you can't go into it, I understand. In terms of the current needs, what would be the biggest priority?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

We're losing ship days because we have vessels out of service, and that makes ship maintenance a high priority. I'm afraid I have to give you more than one, because I can't....

We miss ship days at sea because we don't have enough trained personnel, and I have to say that to my way of thinking, that's of paramount importance. We're a response force. No one uses the word “force” when they talk about the Coast Guard. They talk about employees or members or mariners, but I can't say it strongly enough. We are a response force. That's Bella Bella, that's Simushir, that's Kathryn Spirit. We have to arrive. People forget that Bella Bella started with seven lives in danger. When the search and rescue was done, then we went on ER, the environmental response. The training for our folks and topping up the number of people: we have to have both of those as a critical urgency.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

In terms of the lack of ship—

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

We'll give the floor to Mr. Gerretsen.

You have a five-minute question.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to return to some of the discussion that Mr. Fisher was having about the similarities between the Coast Guard and our navy.

Can you provide some context as to how you see that the threats you're dealing with now—particularly in the Arctic—have changed with global warming in the last twenty years? What new threats are you experiencing?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

To my left, we have a former captain who has spent a lot of time in the Arctic and has seen this first-hand.

Mario.

[Mario Pelletier]

I am a former chief engineer. I still spend a lot of time up there, and I have dealt with some accidents as well, which we had to respond to.

The biggest threat right now that I see is from people's perception that it's opening up, that there's less ice. That's not true. Yes, the ice will melt. We'll have a few seasons with no ice in the passage, but they will be followed by years in which there is a lot of multi-year ice. While the ice is melting, that means more dangerous ice, the multi-year ice coming down and filling up the waterways, and it makes it very challenging. That's a huge threat. People see all those articles and think, “Oh, it's open water. We can go with a small boat with the jet skis.” The cruise industry has been racing to get there, and once they get there, they see very difficult conditions. We're spread out because if there is a search and rescue, we need to respond to that. When we respond to that, we're not available to escort a ship that's going to do a community resupply.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

What role does the Coast Guard play in terms of sovereignty patrol? You mentioned that you're involved in sovereignty patrols.

[Mario Pelletier]

It's mainly presence. Many times the Coast Guard ship is the only federal presence that some communities will see in the Arctic, so we make sure that our assets are spread out and that we cover as much territory as possible. It is presence, and it's a resupply for those communities as well. Over 95% of the goods that go to the community go by water, and in a very small window. It's for us to make sure we're there to support this community resupply.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

When we talk about our sovereignty, and we might become worried about what other state actors are doing, there is a certain level of classification there in terms of what the navy is aware of, hot spots that they might be worried about, particular areas. Is the Coast Guard apprised of that information?

[Mario Pelletier]

We are about some of it. A lot of the information that is used to do this analysis comes through the Coast Guard system. My colleague talked about the long-range identification system, whereby we know which ships are coming into Canada 2,000 miles before they get here.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I'm sorry for interrupting, but I'm limited on time.

That's actual movement. I'm talking about the strategy or the intelligence in advance of that happening.

[Mario Pelletier]

We monitor the traffic; we monitor the activities. If everything converges to a point, we say that there might be something there, and we pass on that information to the relevant organization that can do that analysis.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

The relevant organization would be the navy?

[Mario Pelletier]

They're part of the MSOC. Any partners of the MSOC are seeing the same information.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Would there not be a benefit to the navy and the Coast Guard being under the same umbrella? Why is it two separate organizations, especially with the changing environment in the north?

[Mario Pelletier]

Again, all the information is transmitted through MSOC, and not only is the navy there but the border agency and Transport Canada are as well. They all benefit from having that common operating feature.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Transport Canada and border patrol are not, for lack of a better expression, on the front lines in terms of actual defence. I mean, they're usually called in to assist, because there are specific requirements to do that.

The Coast Guard is right on the front lines, so to speak, correct?

[Mario Pelletier]

That's correct.

We are the presence on the water. The Coast Guard is the largest one in Canada. We are the civilian fleet, so we are on the water and we're called in to support them.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Is that it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You have about 10 seconds. Yes, that's it.

I'll give the floor to Mr. Paul-Hus.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Pelletier, one of the missions of the Royal Canadian Navy is to ensure that waterways remain navigable so that trade can take place. You have to ensure that imports and exports can proceed normally.

Does the CCG feel it is in a position to fulfil its obligations in maintaining the sea lanes clear?

[Mario Pelletier]

Yes. The Royal Canadian Navy is responsible for the security of this traffic, both in Canadian and adjoining waters. Our mandate has more to do with the safety of this traffic. We have to ensure that navigation is safe, that there are aids to navigation, that there is a traffic management system, and that there are resources that can respond in case of emergency, as well as to provide icebreaking services.