Public Accounts Committee on March 13th, 2008

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Could you send us that?

[Michelle d'Auray]

Yes, we could certainly do that.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

I have another more pressing question.

I am particularly interested in the issue of fleet renewal. We are currently in the process of purchasing 17 ships. It has been noted that the process is very slow, that there may be delivery delays, etc.

We are in the process of buying a ship in Vancouver. We are now on the third set of performance specifications. We want to buy a ship, but we are proceeding through performance specifications. Therefore, we do not have a plan. We are asking suppliers to give us plans and costs. I can understand that the process is slow, if we do not know what we want to buy at the outset and if we are proceeding through performance specifications.

Have you been informed of this process?

[Commr George Da Pont]

I am not entirely certain what situation you are talking about.

[Michelle d'Auray]

It concerns the purchase of a vessel on the west coast.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

It concerns the purchase of a ship in the Vancouver region.

[Michelle d'Auray]

Of all of the purchases that we are currently involved with, the first process should cover the first 12. The call for tenders was posted, and we have received bids. This call for tenders includes specifications for the construction of 12 ships. Therefore, if there is a specific case...

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

They are not final plans at the outset. You are not making acquisitions from plans. You are making acquisitions from the performance specifications.

[Michelle d'Auray]

All right, now I understand what you are trying to say.

The calls for tenders are partly based on plans and specifications and partly on performance aspects. In fact, we based them on a design that had already been approved. It is not as though we rewrote the ships' specifications. We asked for some modifications in order to meet the needs of the coast guard and we also added some performance aspects.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Mr. Sweet, you have three minutes.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Could you tell me how many research projects from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are backed up right now because of the lack of vessels?

[Commr George Da Pont]

I'm not aware of any research project that's backed up at the moment.

Our science vessels, where we've had the greatest difficulty, are among the oldest in the fleet. In the past seven years there have been 90 surveys planned. Of those surveys, only two were not conducted because of issues with the vessels. However, a very significant number--33--were interrupted in some fashion because of breakdowns and were not conducted as originally planned.

So we have had significant issues, but for the most part we have been able to complete the surveys.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Okay, so presently there's nothing pending that isn't in the queue, so to speak, because a vessel isn't available. Have we had to use any private contractors so far?

[Commr George Da Pont]

We do hire private contractors occasionally. That is one of the ways we backfill if we have a vessel that can't do the program it was intended to do. You can't do that all the time. It depends on what the program is.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Please tell me that it's a rarity.

[Commr George Da Pont]

It is.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

All right.

Paragraphs 4.70 and 4.71 talk about technology again. The St. Lawrence Seaway and many other international jurisdictions already have fully operational automatic identification systems in place. Paragraph 4.71 goes on to say that the coast guard expects the project will be providing information to marine security operation centres by the 2008 deadline.

Is that happening? I think I saw in your opening remarks that is the case. And is it at full capability?

[Commr George Da Pont]

The deputy commissioner mentioned a few minutes ago the specific local system on the St. Lawrence. We are feeding into the marine security operation centres that are run by DND on both the east and west coasts. So we are now feeding information from our vessel traffic system into those centres.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Is there still some capability that has to come online?

[Commr George Da Pont]

Yes, it's still in the development mode. They're operational on both coasts, but there's still further development.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

So there's a significant percentage still to go.

[Commr George Da Pont]

A similar centre is planned for the Great Lakes to be run by the RCMP. That's in its initial startup phase.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Mr. Chairman, if I could indulge the committee, I ran out of time the last time as well.

If they have some specifics to convince this committee with, of new resources, training, or whatever, that we should have a new look at this--in attitude, compared to the last--could they have an opportunity to give that now, or maybe as their closing remarks?

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

You could either file it or make closing remarks. Did you get the gist of his comments, Madam? Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Sweet.

Mr. Stoffer, Mr. Christopherson.