Evidence of meeting #3 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A video is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Mr. Chairman, it's a bit of a different construct on the marine side, in that in addition to carrying their proper insurance, there is a fund to compensate for oil spills. I'll ask Mr. Roussel to give a bit more detail in that regard.
November 25th, 2013 / 4:40 p.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Thank you.
In marine transport, we have what is called ship-source oil pollution. This is pollution caused by a cargo, as would be the case with an oil tanker, or by the fuel used to power a cargo ship. There are two different plans, and two funds available in Canada.
The first of these funds is called the Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund. This is a national fund worth roughly $400 million. This fund is available for two kinds of pollution: pollution caused by a ship's fuel and pollution caused by the transport of bulk oil.
At the international level, we have access to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, which contains roughly $1.3 billion. In fact, Canada contributes to this fund.
In summary, Canada has access to triple coverage when it comes to pollution: ship owners' insurance, the national fund and the international fund.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Okay. Your time has expired.
We'll now move to Mr. Braid for five minutes.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the officials for being here this afternoon.
I have some high-level questions on safety management systems. I'll come to you, Mr. McDonald, and you can direct accordingly, if needed.
How many safety management systems in Canada does Transport Canada oversee or monitor?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
I'm afraid, Mr. Chair, I don't have that information.
Conservative
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
It's probably in the order of hundreds, I would think. Every entity that is regulated under the system would have to have a safety management system. It's probably in the twenties on the aviation side, thirty-some on the rail side, but between fifty and one hundred.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Okay. Is each safety management system specific to a particular company?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Yes.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
They would vary.
There are certain elements in a safety management system, which my colleagues talked of. We verify that the company has all of those elements, but we don't give them, say, a form to fill out. They have to tell us how it has been designed, and we assess whether it meets the requirements of the regulations.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
If company X does not currently have a safety management system and Transport Canada wants it to, how do you compel it to implement one?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Through regulation.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Specific to that sector.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Once the safety management system is in place, how does Transport Canada ensure that the company is complying? Is it through audits and in monitoring?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Yes. First of all, we would, as we introduce a regulation....
Many companies, out of good management practice, have safety management systems on their own.
When we introduce a regulation, we require all operators subject to that regulation to submit to us their safety management plan. The first one they develop we review with them and ensure that all the required elements are there. Depending on the regulation, that would be a requirement for their getting an operating certificate as a transportation company. Once we approve it, we regularly audit it.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Through that audit process, if you determine that a company has not met the safety management system requirements, what are the consequences and how do those work?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
It's a complex process.
Generally, if we find non-compliance, we ask the organization for a corrective action plan. If we found something wrong with their plan, they would have to come back to us and tell us how they're going to fix it. We also want them to look at the root cause of that failure; not only what the solution is, but also why they ended up with that situation in the first place, and what they are doing to improve their plan to make sure it doesn't happen again.
If we see continued non-compliance, or if the corrective action plan doesn't yield the results we hoped, we can then move to, as Mr. Eley pointed out, such things as enhanced monitoring, or to other enforcement actions, such as administrative monetary penalties.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Okay, so there are administrative monetary penalties in place.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
There are for some of the modes. For others, we're in the process of implementing them.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Do you think there should be administrative monetary penalties, AMPs, for all modes?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
We'd like, as much as possible, to move to a consistent safety management construct for all our modes. While modes are different and they operate differently, we feel the overall construct of the enforcement regime should be similar from mode to mode.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
How many administrative monetary penalties have been imposed in the last two years?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
I'm sorry, I don't have that figure at hand.