Evidence of meeting #81 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was year.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Yes. I'm talking about the fact that the total amounts collected by travellers for security do not go entirely to security.
How is it that some money goes to other purposes and we are being asked for additional budgets to provide security services, when all the money isn't spent on it?
3:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
This is a known issue. We regularly evaluate the adjustment between the tax rate and the amounts collected. For now, this is something the government is looking at. We have not determined what's next, but it's being studied.
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
We heard the Minister of Transport repeat many times that safety was his top priority.
How can Canadians believe you when, between 2012 and today, for example, the Liberal government seems to have followed what the Conservatives had started, in other words annual and recurring cuts to safety. In fact, in 2015-16 and in 2016-17, the budget was reduced by 12%.
How can the claim really be made that safety measures are robust, while the budget is reduced from one year to the next?
3:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
Are you talking about the budget of the Department of Transport?
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I'm talking about the budget allocated mainly to aviation safety, because that's the first topic I addressed.
3:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
With regard to aviation safety, budgets generally fluctuate from year to year. Some projects are completed, including research-related ones. All sorts of initiatives are put in place and many investments are made in capital. When these projects come to an end, the allocations will decrease from one year to the next. This partly explains the fluctuations.
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
There may be fluctuations, but it is a steady decline over five, six or seven years. I find this a little difficult to grasp, especially since the aviation market is constantly growing, as are the needs.
3:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
The number of resources dedicated to surveillance has increased over time. We also allocate our resources differently. Ms. MacDonald spoke earlier about the reallocation of resources based on risk, something we do on a regular basis. If the risks are higher, we redirect resources toward those risks, but we reduce them if the risks are lower.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I'll come back to what you said, Ms. MacDonald, because your comments made a lot of sense to me.
I'm trying to understand what is behind the bureaucratic language. In terms of pilot assessment, is Transport Canada doing more and more paper assessments or recognizing paper assessments done by other inspectors, rather than devoting itself to assessing pilots in flight?
3:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Thank you for your question.
I think it's important to recognize—
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Is it possible to give Mr. Aubin a short response? It's just because we're way over the time.
3:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Yes.
In fact, we are doing more inspections in person. I'll give a quick example. We have two very new simulators. We bring our pilots in and observe them in person doing their training over a course of four hours to a day, so that we can see what they're doing in a real, live situation. We always have a combination of hands-on training that we're testing, as well as oversight training.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to ask Mr. Lapointe a quick question.
The speech you gave at the beginning referenced in passing the interprovincial ferry services in Atlantic Canada. I'm curious to know if the supplementary estimates deal with the Caribou-Wood Islands service and if you could you provide a brief status update on the process to award the long-term service contract to a provider for that key link.
3:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transport
The funding we're requesting here is for the current year for the three Atlantic services: Northumberland Ferries, Bay Ferries, and CTMA. For the longer term, that is still being reviewed.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
That's the only question I wanted to ask.
I'm offering my time to Mr. Aubin, so that he can ask questions about the decision to transfer the responsibilities for assessing pilot proficiency.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
In fact, I would like to ask more questions about CATSA. Besides, I have one that is very clear.
Bill C-49 indicates that if regional airports want to obtain security services for chartered flights, at the international level, for instance, it will have to be done on a cost-recovery basis. It's also true for designated airports, but it's very true for smaller airports, like the one in my riding of Trois-Rivières.
Have you been able to evaluate, in any way, what the cost recovery is for a regional airport?
3:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Yes. We have already made commitments with 10 or 12 airports that want to become designated airports. There were document transfers, and we had meetings to explain the costs and the steps to take before becoming a designated Transport Canada airport.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Can the steps for the process be submitted to the committee? It would give us a better understanding of the magnitude of the ticket surcharges that these services represent for a regional airport.
3:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
We can provide the committee clerk with the relevant information on the costs.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you.
I would now like to come back to the request contained within the estimates. The following is an excerpt from CATSA's corporate plan summary 2016-17 to 2020-21:
... provided CATSA with $29M in additional funding to maintain a service level of approximately 85% of passengers screened in 15 minutes or less in 2016/17.
3:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Exactly.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
That's the status.
You are now asking for $25 million. How do you manage to maintain or increase your service level by 85% if your request for funding is lower this year than last year?
4 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
We did some calculations for this year. According to our models and our information, $25.3 million is enough to maintain the level of service at 85% this year.
4 p.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Okay.
Your goal isn't to increase the level of service from 85% to 90% or 95%?