Transport Committee on June 13th, 2006

[Wendy A Tadros]

No, not unless we can link it to a particular accident. So if we investigate and we're able to demonstrate—because we have to be able to demonstrate scientifically that there absolutely is an issue there....

There are lots and lots of regulations that the government is making day in and day out; they are not something we would become involved in, unless they were at issue in one of our investigations. And if there is a safety issue there, whether it is regulatory or any other kind of safety issue, that's our bread and butter.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Okay, and--

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I'm sorry, Mr. Julian. I've extended you.

Mr. Blaney, go ahead, please.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Good morning, Ms. Tadros.

The TSB has published a number of documents over the year -- close to 130 in fact --including various recommendations, reports and advisories.

I understood you to say earlier that you evaluate on an annual basis the follow up given to your recommendations. Have you considered producing an annual report to inform the government of your activities? Given that several reports contain recommendations that are similar in nature and focus on certain sectors of activity, have you ever considered drawing up a synthesis report for the government? If so, would there be some merit to having the Standing Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities receive such a report annually? I'd like to hear your views on the subject.

[Wendy A Tadros]

We are doing something similar. We're putting the response of the Minister of Transport and our assessment of that response up on our website. If you go to our website, you'll find that over the past year or so there has been a discussion and some information and a rating of each of the responses. As far as putting it annually in one document goes, no, that isn't something we've thought about, but it's food for thought.

Do you want to address the annual report, David? We have, potentially, a little bit of a change coming up with our annual report.

[David Kinsman]

By law, we are required to produce an annual report for Parliament. That's been a requirement since the TSB's inception in 1990. Each year, we table a report summarizing all of the recommendations made throughout the course of the year, as well as the minister's response to those recommendations. Companies are not required to respond to the recommendations, but ministers are obligated to do so.

As I mentioned, these annual reports contain the recommendations issued over the course of the year.

This year, thanks to a new system in place, the report was released and posted on our website. We're now wondering if we can work with Treasury Board to combine this annual report with the other two reports that we're required to produce each year, namely

report on plans and priorities or the departmental performance report.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Mr. Chairman, it might be a good idea if committee members received the latest version of this annual report, for information purposes.

[David Kinsman]

In fact, a report is scheduled to be tabled to Parliament within the next two months or so. It all depends on Parliament's timetable. Otherwise, it will be tabled early this fall.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

That brings me around to my second question concerning a synthesis report. Earlier, we discussed the problems noted in the rail industry. You have some insight into the situation in your particular sector of activity.

Are there any specific areas of concern highlighted in your reports? In your opinion, is some action warranted in these areas to improve safety?

[Wendy A Tadros]

It depends on which timeframe you're talking about. I suppose if you take a snapshot at any given time, the concerns change. When there are concerns and we think we have the data that allows us to show that there is a problem or a safety deficiency demonstrated by more than one accident, we can conduct what's called a safety issues investigation. We're doing one right now in the air mode on post-impact fires in small aircraft. That's an example of how, rather than investigating here and here and here, we would pull together all of the data that is available on accidents within that category and do a complete analysis. Post-impact fires is an example of that.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

That's one example in so far as the airline industry is concerned. Fine.

Do you have any other examples?

Getting back to the rail industry, when many accidents occur in the same sector, shouldn't this tweak the legislator's curiosity? You refer to these individual cases in each report, but when accidents occur repeatedly, do you bring the situation to the attention of lawmakers? Can you give us any other examples that you may have cited in your reports?

[Wendy A Tadros]

Yes, there have been several examples over the year. But in terms of the rail, you asked if---

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

If there's a link between all the accidents.

[Wendy A Tadros]

Okay. What it does is it leads me and the investigative staff to ask the question, is there any commonality between these accidents? What we have found is that you have to get into the investigation, look at what happened and why it happened, and look at the safety deficiencies in the system. What are the underlying factors? You have to do that methodically for each one, before you would ever arrive at the point where you could determine if there was any commonality.

So with the ongoing rail investigations, with Wabamun Lake, Cheakamus—there's a number of others—that's what we're doing. With McBride and Whitby, that's what we did. We investigate each one and look at it in its entirety. If we see some kind of common thread, then certainly we would bring that to the attention of the Minister of Transport.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

My next question has to do with internal management. In your estimation, do you have the required human and financial resources to carry out your mandate and achieve your objectives?

[Wendy A Tadros]

I think any government agency or department, if you ask them that question, would say we would love to have more money. However, I also think that we are carrying out our mandate effectively with the resources we have and with the provision to go to Treasury Board, if there's a large accident, to ask for funds for the investigation. I think we're carrying out our mandate very well.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

Do you receive any private funding? Have you ever considered securing funding from the private sector to cover the TSB's operating expenses?

[Wendy A Tadros]

That issues comes up from time to time; it's a question of independence. So if you have rail carriers, air carriers, or air manufacturers funding your investigation, you have issues of independence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. McGuinty.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

I'm looking forward to visiting your lab.

Thank you.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Good morning. Thanks for coming in. It's a pleasure to meet you.

I'm the new critic for the opposition on transport, so it's my first official meeting on this committee as a fully sworn-in member—a voting member, they tell me. It's a pleasure to meet you all.

I have a couple of quick mandate and governance questions for you. You have no formal board, is that right? You have no members on a board in the classic definition of board?

[Wendy A Tadros]

We have members on our board who are appointed by the Governor in Council.

It's not a board in the private sense, but like any federal tribunal, such as the National Energy Board or the CRTC.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

But you're not quasi-judicial?

[Wendy A Tadros]

No, we have a slightly different mandate because we are scientific and investigative.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Are you a separate employer?