Transport Committee on June 1st, 2017

[The Chair (Hon. Judy A. Sgro (Humber River—Black Creek, Lib.)), Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm calling to order the meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities of the 42nd Parliament. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are continuing our aviation study. We have a variety of witnesses from the Aéroports de Montréal with us today.

Mr. Badawey.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, if I may, my intent was to move a motion today. I will look for your guidance as to whether I should be moving it now, or I can wait until later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Given the fact we have witnesses, I would prefer—

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

That's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

If you want to read it, you can read it out now, but I would prefer that we deal with it at the appropriate time.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

I'll deal with it then. That's fine. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We will move to our witnesses. We're very glad to have Mr. Rainville here, the president and chief executive officer of Aéroports de Montréal, as well as Pierre-Paul Pharand, vice-president, airport operations, infrastructure and air services, by video conference.

Welcome to you both. We appreciate very much that you were able to fit this in today and are glad to have found an extra hour to have you come to the committee.

Mr. Rainville, I'll turn it over to you.

[Philippe Rainville, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aéroports de Montréal]

Thank you.

My remarks will be mostly in French, but we can answer, obviously, questions in both official languages.

Thank you, Madam Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee.

As you know, Aéroports de Montréal, or simply ADM, is the airport authority of Greater Montreal that was created after the transfer of airports in 1992.

My name is Philippe Rainville. Since January 1, 2017, I have been the president and chief executive officer. Accompanying me, by video conference, is Mr. Pierre-Paul Pharand, who is the vice-president of airport operations, infrastructure and air services development. In that role, Mr. Pharand is in particular responsible for security at the Montréal-Trudeau airport.

ADM is financially independent and does not receive any public funding. Any surpluses that accrue must be reinvested in airport development. These costs are passed on to users. Our revenues are essentially from passengers and from three sources: airline companies, commercial activities, and airport improvement fees, or AIF.

ADM is a mature enterprise, as it is marking its 25th anniversary this year. We are proud of our successes and of the services we offer travellers. For the past 10 years, Montréal-Trudeau has grown by 5% per year on average, and there are no signs of this letting up.

With regard to airport security, ADM works and acts in close collaboration with the law enforcement agencies present at the airport, including: the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, or CATSA; the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA; the RCMP; the Montreal city police, or SPVM; the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS; U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or USCBP; and of course Transport Canada.

Let us recall that Transport Canada has the exclusive authority to issue or revoke passes.

ADM also complies will all Transport Canada measures and requirements, and the department audits us regularly.

We have created an additional procedure for the issuing of temporary passes. This procedure includes a security check of those applying for temporary passes, including a criminal record check.

In the past two years, we have invested $50 million to build four permanent checkpoints for non-passengers and vehicles at entry points in the restricted area. These checkpoints were recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, and are required by Transport Canada. Airports do not receive any funding for their construction and operating activities, which run from $3 million to $4 million per year. The operating costs for CATSA are estimated at $20 million per year for Montréal-Trudeau airport, and are funded under an agreement that will expire in just one year.

In addition to the agencies present at the airport, ADM has its own security service. Its mission is to protect passengers, personnel, and facilities from any illegal act that threatens civil aviation at airports. Our security service has more than 200 members in various specialized units. Its responsibilities include emergency response, enforcement of regulations, traffic control, explosives detection, and protection of the restricted area.

In 2003, the airport security service received its accreditation certificate from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA, attesting to the quality of the operational and administrative management of the service. This certification has been renewed every three years since then.

ADM's airport security service is also the only accredited airport service in Canada, and the seventh in North America to obtain that accreditation.

We have also created a committee that meets monthly to share information with the law enforcement agencies present at the airport, which is also attended by the RCMP on-board safety officers, the Sûreté du Québec, Homeland Security, and the New York State Police.

We regularly conduct many exercises or simulations with our partners and evaluate our processes regularly.

In closing, you can see that Montréal-Trudeau airport has a high concentration of human and technical security resources. These resources are part of permanent and effective coordination structures. We work jointly with law enforcement agencies which are responsible for investigations, prevention, and analyzing various risks.

Madam Chair, members of the committee, rest assured that ADM has taken the necessary steps to protect our facilities, personnel, and the travelling public. Security is and will always be our top priority.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll go on to the questions from the committee, starting with Ms. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I, too, have a motion that I tabled on Tuesday, and I will take up the suggestion to quickly use the first 30 seconds to read it into the record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I believe we have it in the record from Tuesday. Is it the same motion?

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I think it's just changed slightly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay, that's fine. Go ahead.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I move:

That the Committee immediately write a letter to the Minister of Transport, with the Government House Leader in carbon copy, requesting that the measures contained in Bill C-49—Transportation Modernization Act be split into the following parts, rail shipping, rail safety, air, marine, in order to facilitate expedited scrutiny of those measures in C-49 that are designed to address the measures in C-30 which are due to sunset on Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

I do not expect that we will be debating that until committee business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you.

I am now going to pass my time on to Mr. Rayes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Mr. Rayes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Block.

Thanks to both witnesses for being with us.

Like everyone else, we are concerned about airport security. We see what is happening in various parts of the world, and in Montreal in particular. My colleague, Mr. Luc Berthold, had intended to talk about this, but unfortunately he could not be here. He sends his regrets. His replacement is Mr. Deltell.

Mr. Berthold and I are very concerned by certain investigative reports that we have seen regarding the Montreal airport. I think the committee would like an answer to certain questions.

In various media reports, we have heard about the profile of certain employees, which could be worrisome. We hear all kinds of stories about individuals whose profile could raise questions. Far be it from me to scare people. I think you do a tremendous job and I am not in any way questioning the coordination of all the services. The information we have received, however, is that there are just six armed SPVM officers who work around the airport, and not necessarily in the restricted area. In fact, acts are not necessarily committed in restricted areas.

Is it true that there are six SPVM officers doing that work at the Montreal airport?

[Philippe Rainville]

There are six officers who do that work. They work on rotation, of course. They are not there just for an eight-hour shift; they are there almost all the time. My colleague Mr. Pharand can provide some details.

It is true that they are not necessarily in the restricted areas. They are also in public areas which, in my opinion, is reassuring to the public. They are dispatched all over the airport as the need arises.

I will ask Mr. Pharand to elaborate on this.

We indicated that there are monthly committee meetings and that this is all part of risk management by all police services, including our security service.

There are six of them and we think that is enough.

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

We know that, in Quebec, it is the Sûreté du Québec. Federally, it is the RCMP. You also have more than 200 members of your internal security service, if memory serves me well.

Are there other police services or security officers from your organizations that patrol the public areas of the airport, or is that the responsibility of the six police officers we are talking about?

[Philippe Rainville]

Our security officers are all over the site, in vehicles on the access roads and inside the terminal, in the restricted area as well as the public areas.

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

Okay.

[Philippe Rainville]

Interestingly, in Montreal, they use bicycles.

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

Okay.

[Philippe Rainville]

We also see them on bicycles inside the terminal, and of course they use motorized vehicles on the access roads.