Transport Committee on June 1st, 2017

[Pierre-Paul Pharand]

Indeed, to ensure that our emergency response plan is functional, it is validated on a regular basis through exercises, audited by Transport Canada and verified by CALEA. In fact, our security service is accredited by CALEA, as Mr. Rainville mentioned.

Both the exercises and the actual incidents, which are then the subject of feedback, allow us to improve and ensure that the communication channels and the alerting system are always at the cutting edge of technology and meet the needs.

When an incident is triggered, all key players in the response systems and services have access to a radio that allows them to listen and exchange communications immediately, pending the establishment of a command system.

A number of years ago, we adopted the widely-recognized incident command system, the international standard for these kinds of events. The system is regularly validated and tested, either in real events or by exercises.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Good. That's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We have Mr. Ellis for six minutes.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Good morning, and thanks for coming.

I just want to go back to your accreditation. You say you are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Could you basically explain that organization? Is there a cost to accreditation? It says, basically, it's every three years. I know they have different levels of accreditation. When you go through that accreditation is there a score? How do you fix any outliers? Have you ever failed accreditation?

You say you're the only agency in Canada that has received this accreditation.

The second question would be, is there a reason that other establishments and airport-type agencies haven't applied for this?

[Philippe Rainville]

You ask quite a relevant question.

We evaluate the situation each time we want to renew our accreditation. Of course, there is a cost attached to it. At Aéroports de Montréal, we have always decided up to now to follow CALEA.

I will ask Mr. Pharand to explain the reasons for our accreditation.

[Pierre-Paul Pharand]

You have to see the CALEA system like an ISO system. The commission was established in the United States a number of years ago. It has set standards for police services, law enforcement services, training centres and telecommunications centres, in order to raise the level of professionalism in those organizations.

When we at Aéroports de Montréal were establishing our airport security, we did not want to limit ourselves to the minimum standards or the basic measures in Canadian regulations. We wanted to push that a little further in order to ensure that we were providing the best possible service to the travelling public.

We received that accreditation for the first time in 2003. There are some 400 standards to comply with. In our case, after the third accreditation, as we had obtained excellent results, we became what CALEA called a “flagship” at the time, a standard bearer, if you will. This means an organization that has been accredited on several occasions, that has reached a certain level of excellence, and that becomes a model for other agencies to follow.

However, you will understand that, because it is an ISO-like system, it operates on a voluntary basis. No organization is obliged to submit to the process; it is the result of a business decision. In fact, investments have to be made each year in order to maintain the level of excellence that the commission recognizes.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Is there a cost involved in this? With the cost, is there a certain amount for different agencies?

[Philippe Rainville]

The only answer I can give you is that safety costs make up a considerable part of our operating costs. From year to year, they represent from 5% to 7% of our operating budget. So the costs are very high.

As for the exact cost of what we have to do to conform to the CALEA standards, I imagine that the cost of the accreditation itself must be public. However, the costs go beyond that, because you have to consider all our related training programs.

I can tell you that we spend from 5% to 7% of our annual budget on safety matters. So we’re talking about a little more than $10 million a year.

Am I right on that, Mr. Pharand?

[Pierre-Paul Pharand]

Yes.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Another thing is, you say that Transport Canada does a regular audit of you. Is it yearly, every three years, every four years? I guess, with that answered, I'll have another question on this, depending on the answer.

[Philippe Rainville]

The lease that governs our relationships with Transport Canada involves all airport activities. They include safety and security, but there are other things. The annual audit looks at all activities.

In terms of safety measures alone, is there anything other than the annual audit, Mr. Pharand?

[Pierre-Paul Pharand]

Actually, Transport Canada has inspectors on site seven days a week year round, to make sure that safety practices conform to the regulations. So we do not just have a periodic audit, we also have continuous oversight from Transport Canada.

[Philippe Rainville]

Previously, I was responsible for construction engineering, and I can tell you that the violations pointed out by Transport Canada are part of airport administrators’ daily work, not just in Montreal, but everywhere in Canada. Transport Canada issues violation notices whenever it feels that there is a safety flaw.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

I'm confused by that answer on the auditing. I guess the confusion might be in the translation.

An audit usually is a surprise audit: they call you up yearly or every two years and they drop by. What I'm seeing here, in this sentence, is that the auditing is done regularly, that you're auditing things every day. I'm confused by that answer.

[Philippe Rainville]

I think it's a question of inspection versus auditing. Auditing as far as we're concerned is the standard annual process.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

That's the process I want to ask about.

[Philippe Rainville]

That's what we call the Transport Canada audit. What Pierre-Paul is talking about is day-to-day inspections.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Yes, so how often are you audited?

[Philippe Rainville]

Annually, there's a formal annual audit by Transport Canada, but there are daily safety inspections by it as well.

[Neil Ellis, Liberal, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Ellis.

Mr. Rayes.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Before I start, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that my friend opposite had no reason to point out my colleague’s absence, nor any right to do so. I think it was inappropriate on his part. That is all I want to say on the matter. Personally, I prefer to show my colleague some understanding because I know how very important he feels this topic to be. My intentions were good. I can assure you that he wanted to be here, but he had to be away for an urgent personal matter. That is all I wanted to say about it.

Now, here are my questions.

You said that traffic is increasing by about 5% per year. If we go by what we read in various articles, and the fact that people are going on vacation, especially in the winter to get a little bit of sun, I doubt if the traffic is going to decrease. You confirm that yourself.

Does the level of people’s security also go up each year? Is it in proportion to the increasing traffic and the budgets allocated? I would like to know if you take that into consideration. I imagine that that the presence of more and more people also requires more surveillance, more training, and more resources in order to ensure security.

[Philippe Rainville]

Our operating costs correspond to the demand. We have to provide the service. I think that some speakers referred to that at your last meeting. It’s not that we are short on resources, it is rather that the level of service is going down, both with customs, where adjustments are being made, and with CATSA. The lineups are a little longer as the agencies adjust.

We certainly meet periodically with people from those services. We tell them about the passenger numbers we expect in the upcoming periods. The Canada Border Services Agency knows when flights are arriving and can make adjustments. However, it is taking longer, I admit. Those agencies have to be given the resources that will allow them to adjust to the increase in the number of passengers.

You have to realize that civil aviation is undergoing phenomenal growth, especially in Montreal. Imagine an annual increase of 5% for infrastructure like jetways. It is not long before the increase becomes 20% or 30%. That is what is happening in Montreal. In the last two years, the number of passengers has grown by 7%, and 2017 is predicted to be another record year.

The agencies take some time to adjust. However, in their defence, I have to tell you that we have discussions and we put a lot of energy into trying to encourage them to follow us and to follow the evolution of the industry.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

So, if I follow your reasoning, are you saying that to decrease the line-ups that are more and more frequent at Montreal-Trudeau airport without adversely affecting security, all we need is more staff?

As I understand it, in order not to decrease the level of security, financial resources have to be allocated to hiring staff or to new technologies. Perhaps there are technologies that can achieve that result. Otherwise, the travellers automatically bear the brunt, either in the quality of the service or in the time they have to wait.

[Philippe Rainville]

You make a good point. In terms of technology, there is CATSA Plus that revolutionizes the way in which checkpoints are managed. So we have the solution to improve the flow while still maintaining the same level of security. However, resources are needed to deploy the system, and no one has come up with them yet.

Right now, we either get longer lineups or better technology. It basically comes down to that.