Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed amendments to Canada's Aeronautics Act, the backbone of our aviation regulatory infrastructure here in Canada.
For the most part, Canada's airports support the proposed amendments. This is good legislation. In the attached brief that we will be distributing to committee members, we have outlined some comments and concerns, but today I would like to highlight two important areas in which we believe this legislation can have a tremendously positive impact on the continued safety and importance of aviation in this country: the continued promotion of aeronautics as a mandate of the minister; as well as the promotion of safety management systems and the designation of organizations to shepherd these systems.
Aviation plays an essential role in Canadian society and our ever-increasingly trade-dependent economy. For that reason, we believe it is important that the promotion of aeronautics remain a mandate of the minister, as it is currently in the Aeronautics Act. The proposed amendments would eliminate this, but we believe that would be a mistake.
As Canada and our economy continue to grow, the country's aviation sector grows with it. This requires airports to be more nimble and quicker to adapt to change. Canada's airports believe several of the proposed amendments represent a fresh and welcome approach from the government to achieving this goal.
Safety is the number one concern for Canada's airports. Safety management systems, or SMS, represent a proactive approach to the safety of aviation in Canada by extending a voice to those closest to the action, the thousands of men and women who make our aviation system work every day. Who else is in a better position to identify risks and tender possible solutions than those in the field?
It is important to note that Canada has an extremely safe aviation sector today, and Canada's airports have an excellent safety record. The designation of organizations for regulatory stewardship is a natural evolution of a more mature SMS approach. It will create a more responsive approach to safety in which industry is able to more quickly identify risk and implement changes to mitigate it. Naturally, it should only be available to industry segments that have demonstrated an outstanding safety record and the ability to manage the delegated responsibility.
The designation of organizations will require a change in culture—there is no doubt about that—but it is a welcome change that will allow us as an industry to capitalize on identifying potential problems before they result in a safety incident. We're talking about real, tangible improvements to safety.
At airports each and every day, our men and women see potential problems, problems of which only they are aware. For example, there may be an intersection at a particular airport that pilots or ground workers know to be hazardous. What we have today is a system in which we need to wait until the regulator approves of changes to fix the problem, and it could take months for the necessary changes to airport operation manuals to be approved by the department. It is an inefficient system in which unnecessary delays represent unnecessary safety vulnerabilities and inefficiencies. Yes, regulations in the current system can obstruct safety. Under SMS, which Canada's airports have been working steadily to adopt, we have a system being put into place in which people can report such safety problems without fear of reprisal.
Airports know their businesses and are best placed to know what will improve safety within their organizations. Today they often find themselves constrained by the regulations from implementing safety-related improvements. Surely this is not the government's intent.
Very recently, for example, certification standards for apron marking, signage, and lighting are being removed from Canada's airport certification standards. This has allowed the CAC to develop a best industry practices document on the subject to replace them. They reflect the very best standards available from a variety of airports across Canada.
In time, we could do similar things with other areas of certification standards and with areas of the Canadian aviation regulations. A natural evolution in the SMS approach, the designation of organizations to manage safety standards then allows industry to move much more quickly to plug safety vulnerabilities long before they need to have a safety incident.
The vulnerabilities identified through SMS programs could feed regulatory change. The designated organizations represent another layer of safety oversight, while the minister would still retain the right to audit and inspect the organization and the affected certificate holders.
In conclusion, we would like to reiterate the primary commitment of Canada's airports to safety. We believe that many of the proposed amendments to the Aeronautics Act under consideration today will contribute greatly to ensuring Canada's aviation sector continues to enjoy one of the best safety records in the world over the busy years ahead.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.