Yes.
Evidence of meeting #6 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #6 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Can I assume that includes the role of the FAA in Canada's validation process and certification system?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
The way it works is that we certify Canadian planes, and because other countries believe in the quality of our certification, they accept, in the case of the United States and Europe, to validate our certification.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I only have a couple of minutes, so I really want to get to the question.
One thing that stood out for me in the congressional report was the role of authorized representatives. These are employees of Boeing whose paycheques are signed by the Boeing company—
4:30 p.m.
NDP
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Did you know about these authorized representatives and their role when you made the comment on March 13 that you were “very, very comfortable” with the fact that the FAA was the certifying agency?
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Were you when you made those comments? To me, and I don't have the detailed understanding, it seems astonishing that we would put employees of a company in the position that they're forced to choose between two masters, one of whom signs their paycheques.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
The process of certification is a massive process. I gave the example of the C Series. We at Transport Canada spent 160,000 hours of employee time doing certification. We also have delegates, the people whom you called “authorized”—we use the term “delegate”—and we choose them in Canada. That's how we proceed, because we want to make sure that the people who are doing the certification and reporting to us are people we have vetted.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
4:30 p.m.
NDP
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
Yes, because otherwise, to do a certification on an airplane requires a really massive undertaking.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Given what's in the congressional report, then, is this something that is being reconsidered?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
We check on them as they're doing the...we don't just sort of say, give us the report.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
It talks about conflicted representation and the conflict of interest that occurs when you have an employee of an aircraft manufacturer doing the work of the regulatory body. Is this something that you're considering changing, going forward?
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
We believe that the process we have whereby we choose the people who are delegates to help with the certification.... We are confident that they have the expertise, and we monitor them as they do the work.
