Absolutely, thank you for the opportunity.
It's something that our government took seriously. It was announced actually last year by Minister Lebel and Minister Oliver. We've been talking about it in the context that we're recognizing the fact that we're going to see increased shipping on the west coast.
The reality, however, is that shipping happens on all of our coasts, and it's important to ensure that we have the rules, regulations and systems in place in order to protect if there is an incident. You start with prevention. In prevention you just make sure that you inspect a vessel as it comes in, a foreign vessel coming into waters, to make sure they are seaworthy, that they're not going to have an accident, that they're not going to spill. We also ensure that they understand where our markers are, where our channels are, that the coast guard has a mapping and they understand what's going on there.
The second piece of it is that if there is a spill, or if it is leaking, or if it is not seaworthy, we can see it quickly. That's where NASP, our national aeronautics security program, comes in. It's really important to know when something is happening so that you can respond to it quickly. I think a lot of British Columbians worry about that, because the coast is beautiful and they don't want it spoiled. We know that if we get to it quickly and are prepared to deal with a spill, this will make us world-class as well.
The other things that have to happen within the safety initiative are things that are not necessarily involved with Transport Canada. They're things like doing some research on non-conventional petroleum products to make sure that we understand what it behaves like in the water so that we have the appropriate spill response there as well too.
With the increased shipping that will be coming to the B.C. coast, it's important to show Canadians that we have a great system in place, but we can make it better. The tanker safety panel studied it for us and gave us recommendations, and those are the recommendations that we're working towards.