Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses.
I echo what Mr. Regan had to say earlier about your testimony before this committee today, Mr. Wells.
In my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl, in eastern Newfoundland, we have a hell of a lot of offshore workers based, as well as in Jack's riding of St. John's East. I get calls from offshore workers and their families on a regular basis, meaning every single week. Their number one concern is safety, safety for the men and women who work offshore.
They are concerned about night flights, for example, because, as you said, they are more dangerous than day flights. Also, on our offshore we're talking about a distance each way of several hundred kilometres, which is a lot farther than the distances on the North Sea. There are a lot more rigs on the North Sea than off Newfoundland and Labrador.
The other concern raised by the families and people who work offshore is the need for an independent safety regulator, especially because, as Jack pointed out, it was a recommendation from the Ocean Ranger inquiry some 25 years ago that wasn't followed up.
I am getting to my question.
I got an answer back today to a question that I put on the order paper, one of the tools one has as a member of the House of Commons to get information. I had asked whether or not the federal government, the Conservative government, had assessed the cost of an independent safety regulator. The answer to that question was that no, they hadn't, which makes me wonder whether they took your recommendation for an independent safety regulator, the most important recommendation from your inquiry, seriously.
Workers and their families care about safety. I heard what you had to say about your recommendation for a national safety regulator and I also echo what Linda had to say, in that it makes a lot of sense. But again, my concern and perspective comes back to the workers and their families in my riding.
I have to ask you, with all due respect, how can you recommend a national safety regulator as workable for all of Canada, and in the absence of that—which is going to take time—not then say that an independent safety regulator would be the best option for off eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, and off eastern Nova Scotia?