Evidence of meeting #89 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 boats.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Roughly, I would say two and a half million.
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, because we had a backlog from the previous year due to a subrogation and release issue with the Coast Guard. Basically when that was settled, we were able to pay a bunch of claims that had been waiting to be paid, but historically, I would say that the amount of claim that was paid was around $1 million, $1.2 million per year, and I say “historically” because this has gone up in the past two years.
This year I have over $11 million in assessment.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
How many claims would that represent, the $2.5 million last year, roughly?
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
I should know these numbers by heart. It was, I would say, about 20 cases.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Twenty cases, and were they mostly smaller vessels or larger vessels?
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, mostly smaller vessels. That's really the bulk of what we do, the smaller vessels, because with big vessels.... Yes, we have files involving big vessels, but we have an insurer in the picture, which means that basically, at the end of the day, the insurer will pay all the claims, and when it's all settled, we just close the file.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I represent the area that removed the Farley Mowat this year. I believe the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund ended up having to pay a claim out there as well.
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, we had four claims with the Farley Mowat.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
What was the total of those four claims, roughly?
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
I have the numbers here, and I would say that it was roughly $1.5 million.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
It was $1.5 million. Was that when it sank at the wharf and had to be raised? Did that cover that cost?
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, we cover all costs that are pollution costs. We don't pay the other costs. That means that we don't necessarily accept everything in a claim that is submitted to us. When there is a wreck removal element, we will not pay for the wreck removal element unless it's a wooden vessel.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
But because the wreck had oil pollution going into the water when it sank, that would be a case where the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund would step in.
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I guess I'd like to say that for $1.5 million I probably could have removed it before it sank, and then we wouldn't have had to pay those kinds of costs.
My point is that it's important to be proactive as opposed to reactive and to make sure that we deal with these vessels ahead of time instead of when they sink or when they become an environmental hazard. That is the challenge we face, and we have to deal with.
4:55 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, if I can complement that, from the fund perspective, the fund cannot lend money. The fund can only assess claims for damages that have caused expenses. With proof of these expenses, we assess the reasonableness, and then we pay. We cannot advance money and say that for this many millions we can remove a vessel. It's not something that is part of our mandate.
As mentioned, I have lots of money, but I have a very strict mandate. As I'm the only person who can allow money to be taken out of this pile of money, I have to respect these parameters. I cannot start throwing money for all kinds of good reasons.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Would the Farleyhave been one of the larger vessels that you've had to fund?
5 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
It was one of the largest claims, yes.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
But was the vessel itself? It was a big vessel.
5 p.m.
Administrator, Office of the Administrator of the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund
Yes, it was a big vessel.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Okay.
Ms. Heintzman, living in a coastal community myself, I feel your pain. We don't see the same type of abandonment with small vessels as you do. In my riding we deal with mostly large vessels. I know that one of the towns that we have, Bridgewater, is dealing with, I think, five large vessels, one of which is actually a naval vessel, left abandoned and the impact doing that has on our tourism and our ability to grow economically.
Have you see that it Squamish?
5 p.m.
Mayor, District of Squamish
Definitely the vernacular of our ocean front is part of our brand. It's a part of who we are. That's one of the reasons we initiated this cleanup. Absolutely it affects how people view you and how you view yourself.
Interestingly on this issue of whether you need to react to something before it sinks, absolutely. We had a case—and I believe it's a claim in with these guys—of a fairly large barge that was listing. It had wrecked cars on it. It had old excavators and stuff on it. People were squatting on it, living on this barge. The Coast Guard came up and they couldn't.... This was prior to this act. We believe this act will have a positive effect on this type of situation. It was listing, listing, listing, listing. I said, “Can't you do anything? It's going to sink. Isn't it going to be a much more expensive problem?” They said, “We can't board it.” They eventually made a deal with the boat owner that he would relinquish ownership as long as he wasn't on the hook for any of it. That was the only way to deal with the problem.
Twenty minutes after they made that deal—it took them a day and half to get there—the cargo, the cars, and all the stuff shifted and it sank. It became a half-a-million-dollar problem to the water lot owner.
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much, Ms. Heintzman. I have to cut you off there.
We go now to Ms. Malcolmson.
5 p.m.
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
Thank you very much, Chair.
I have six minutes. I'm going to try to cover so much ground.
To the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund, with great thanks for removing the 100-foot Viki Lyne II and the 90-foot Anapaya from Ladysmith Harbour, both big boats, in this case in partnership with the Coast Guard, thank you for that.
I'm hoping that you'd be willing to table with the committee your report, “Statistical Report on incidents involving Derelict and Abandoned Vessels and Wrecks that resulted in claims with the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund over a 10-year period (Jan-01-2006 to Dec-31-2015)”.
Is that possible?