Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
I promise I will try to stay within the 10 minutes for my presentation.
I want to thank you for having invited us to speak here. I know I'll diverge a little from my presentation, but I think it's really important for the ferry sector to be represented and be able to talk to this committee about various issues.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and very soon, good afternoon. First, let me thank you for inviting the Canadian Ferry Operators Association to make a presentation to this committee.
It is somewhat of a special occasion for us. For the past few years, if not the past decade, the ferry sector was completely absent from any discussion on the parliamentary level related to transportation. That's of concern to our sector. However, ferry operators play an essential role in Canada's transportation infrastructure. A lot of you know that from having ferries in and close to your ridings. However, let me give you some quick numbers that you may not be aware of.
Ferry operators transported over 47 million passengers in Canada in 2013. As a comparison, the airline sector transported about 60 million. There isn't a huge difference between the two. Close to 17 million vehicles were on board ferries in the same year. About 10,000 people are employed by ferry operators across the country. Over 25,000 jobs are indirectly linked to ferry operations. There are close to 180 ferry routes in Canada, with the biggest use of ferries being in British Columbia, followed by Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and then the Prairies and northern Canada.
Our members transport a variety of passengers, from foot passengers to large transport trucks, from individuals getting on board on their daily commute or to catch a plane to the truck that delivers essential supplies to a remote community. We indeed serve a variety of communities, linking parts of major urban centres in Vancouver and Halifax, taking passengers to airport islands in Toronto and Prince Rupert, and reaching far and remote communities in Labrador, northern Manitoba, northern Saskatchewan, and northern British Columbia. That is the reason we must keep ferries safe. We are proud to say that, in general, the ferry sector has an impeccable record when it comes to safety.
In 2011 and 2012, the Transportation Safety Board reported no ferry accidents involving injury or fatality. In 2012 only 14 minor incidents involved ferries. That's a major reduction from the previous years. Most important of all and relevant to this specific discussion, we have no record of any major accident involving the transportation of dangerous goods.
For ferries, the transportation of dangerous goods regulations provide the regulatory framework to operators in the transportation of dangerous goods. Some operators also look for guidance to the international dangerous goods regulations developed by the International Maritime Organization.
In general, the Canadian Ferry Operators Association is pleased with the existing regulations. However, there are a few areas of concern that could be addressed.
The first is clarity. Some of the regulations are not clear to operators, and a thorough review needs to be done to ensure clarity and to allow our operators to implement them properly. The regulations are not easy to interpret, and this makes it difficult on occasion for our members to follow them.
As an example, there is an issue of inconsistency on what defines a short-run ferry. In the federal regulations it's three kilometres, in the marine safety regulations it's five kilometres. We believe that the issue came from the fact that it used to be three miles. Some have translated three miles to three kilometres, others have changed three miles to five kilometres. This is an issue of consistency and clarity; the problem is that it means a lot to our ferry operators when that's not clear.
The implementation of regulations is another issue. Another example that I can give you is that exemptions were made to allow unplugged containers to be transported by ferries with no more than 25 passengers on short runs in some remote communities. This was withdrawn, bitterly, by one inspector recently, and that created congestion in that community and made it difficult for people to move on and off an island. That needs to be fixed as well. A lot of it depends on the voluntary declaration by transport truck drivers. That's an issue on occasion: whether or not the records are kept properly, whether or not certain things are missing.
While our members do their own inspections and verifications, more due diligence on inspecting transport trucks before they enter a ferry would help. You don't want to have an issue when you're between Vancouver and Victoria.
The training of our members' staff is essential and our members regularly invest thousands and thousands of dollars to ensure the safest operations possible.
We're proud of our record and look forward to collaborating with you in the future on the betterment of our transportation infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.