There were three instances that we had in mind. The first was on issues of non-compliance reporting. For example, if a shipper reports that a pilot is not available, that report goes to the pilotage authority. The pilotage authority is able to close the loop and inform the port authority that there might be either a slowdown or a delay in a ship arriving, so they can work together to better manage the vessel traffic within the port waters, the berthing requirements, the tug requirements and that sort of thing. If that reporting loop is taken out with the proposed centralization at Transport Canada, we support that, but we want to still make sure there is the ability to have a real-time connection or information loop back to the authority of, in this case, a non-compliance report that has been issued that will affect its traffic management and operations. That's one example.
The second example was with the issuance of waivers where, in the case I was mentioning earlier, the port authority and pilotage authority are able to work together to manage the vessel a bit more closely if they're aware of the full conditions of the waivers that are on that vessel.
The third area I was going to mention is in accident or incident investigation. Currently, as I said earlier, all of this vests with the Transportation Safety Board. They come in, take the data—they're very proprietary with it—and they go and do their investigation. It takes upwards of a year to receive the report—which speaks to the thoroughness of the investigation—but in the meantime, the port authorities and harbourmasters have to make some pretty quick operational decisions as to what will happen the next day or what conditions have to be changed, at least in the interim, to avoid such an incident while awaiting the report.
To loop back in the port authority, pilotage authority and Transport Canada is important.