Mr. Speaker, the Coast Guard's marine communications and traffic services centres provide monitoring, distress response and maritime safety services and broadcast maritime safety information such as weather conditions and navigational warnings. They also screen vessels entering Canadian waters and manage marine traffic.
The Canadian Coast Guard is modernizing its technologies and consolidating its marine communications and traffic services centres across the country. As a result of technological innovations in communications monitoring equipment, the centres are now more reliable and will help our officials provide vital safety services in a more efficient manner.
The marine communications and traffic services centres are using the same network of radio and radar towers across Canada, but are taking advantage of 21st century communications technology. The new equipment has replaced obsolete systems dating back to the 1980s, which had become increasingly difficult to maintain because of their age. The Coast Guard has successfully modernized 11 centres, and the new systems are operating as planned.
Even though there are fewer centres, the staff at those centres spend more of their time directly serving Canadians and mariners, and they spend less time on the tasks and duties required under the old system. Staff at the Coast Guard's marine communications and traffic services centres are qualified and competent, and the centres are staffed permanently year-round. The accredited officers receive intensive training at the Canadian Coast Guard College. Centres do not need to be physically located on the coast because officers at the centres use information gathered by radio, radar, and other equipment and systems.
Officers also acquire local knowledge during training at the centres. In other words, modernizing and consolidating our marine communications and traffic services centres has enabled the Coast Guard to adopt a 21st-century approach to coordinating rescue operations and marine safety communications that is comparable to what other developed countries do.
Modernizing our marine communications and traffic services centres is like going from a rotary dial phone to a smart phone. Modernizing our technology helps maintain these services, which is critical. All components have been thoroughly tested, and Canadian Coast Guard experts have confidence in the new systems, their locations, and their capacity to serve Canadians and mariners while ensuring their safety and security.
In keeping with government commitments to transparency and marine safety, I am pleased that the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has signalled its intention to study the planned consolidation of the MCTS Comox centre.