Evidence of meeting #36 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 vessels.
President, Council of Marine Carriers
Could I respond to the question about the difference in what the coast guard does, please?
Conservative
President, Council of Marine Carriers
I can indeed. The Canadian Coast Guard is responsible for en route safety of a vessel, whereas Transport Canada is responsible for the on-board safety on the vessel.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you very much.
Mr. McGuinty, you mentioned Walkerton and of course that's very close to where I live. We all know that no system is perfect, but very similarly to Lac-Mégantic, there were the tools in place. What happened in Walkerton, as in Lac-Mégantic, did not need to happen. It was basically people not doing their job. I needed to point that out.
Ms. Young, you have two minutes.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
I appreciate having the opportunity to follow up on that.
Mr. Lewis-Manning, earlier on, when Mr. McGuinty mentioned some numbers and said there's been some decreases in staffing etc., you mentioned that efficiencies have been found in the system, that we're doing things better, smarter, maybe more technologically able. Can you expand on that?
President, Canadian Shipowners Association
I'm not sure it's directly related to safety, but there may be spinoffs to safety. The reality is that Transport Canada has been looking for efficiencies in its process in delivering its services. A lot of that process is driven by inspections and what I would say is bureaucratic support to those processes. I know that Transport Canada has invested a lot of effort in trying to find those efficiencies in order to make their life more efficient, but even more importantly, to make the shipowner's life more efficient. That's the important part, because bureaucracy can become so intensive that it becomes a risk and none of us wants that risk.
Conservative
Wai Young Conservative Vancouver South, BC
Right.
I'll get back to my previous question about the low-hanging fruit and ask Mr. Chomniak to respond, because he didn't have a chance to do so earlier.
President, Canadian Passenger Vessel Association
Realistically, with all these questions in regard to SMS and the transportation of dangerous goods, it still goes back to one of the best things we can use and that is having open lines of discussion between Transport Canada and the shipowner. That open line of communication, in the last 10 years, has gone so far in helping everyone be successful in what we need to do, and that is to transport our cargo, whether it's grain, salt, oil, or passengers, in a safe manner.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
With that, we're going to have to call the meeting.
Thanks to the witnesses who joined us here. Mr. Nelson, we apologize for the glitch that we had, but it wasn't anybody's fault; those things happen. Thanks very much for joining us.
President, Council of Marine Carriers
Absolutely no problem. Thank you for inviting me.