House of Commons Hansard #266 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was employees.

Topics

Foreign AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

NDP

Foreign AffairsAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

Liberal

Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB

Madam Speaker, as I just said, we fully subscribe to a world free of nuclear weapons and that is what we are focusing our efforts on.

Our efforts are aimed at achieving concrete progress and building important trust. We are pursuing inclusive, pragmatic initiatives that bring the international community together behind our common goal of a nuclear weapons-free world. That is why Canada is leading international efforts to prepare the way for a fissile material cut-off treaty that halts the production of the fissile material used in nuclear weapons. Canada is determined to show leadership in such initiatives and is taking real action that counts.

We understand more must be done, and we remain committed to nuclear disarmament as part of our broader re-engagement in the world, promoting and protecting human rights, focused on women and girls and those who find themselves in vulnerable situations.

Aviation SafetyAdjournment Proceedings

6:50 p.m.

NDP

Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC

Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank all my colleagues from all parties who agreed to study aviation safety at the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

As this subject was of concern to me, I was both surprised and disappointed by the minister's reply to one of my questions in the House about this.

I will provide the context for those interested in the question. I stated:

...according to internal documents from Transport Canada, pilot proficiency tests will be conducted by the airlines themselves, rather than by Transport Canada inspectors...

The airline companies will test their own pilots.

What I was asking the minister was whether he was planning to put an end to this practice, which was similar to that of the Conservative government in power before the Liberals. The Conservatives allowed more and more self-regulation, which did not always have the desired effect on safety. In fact, as we speak, 90% of the industry's pilots are tested not by Transport Canada inspectors, but by the airline companies themselves. I was truly perplexed by the minister's reply.

I would like to quote an excerpt. He said, “we periodically conduct an...audit”. There is already a problem here. We are talking about aviation safety and he said, “Using a risk-based approach, we periodically conduct an airline safety audit.” In other words, no inspections are conducted if things seem to be going well. However, aviation safety and air accidents involve injury and death. Conducting audits periodically, looking at the statistics after the fact, and seeing that, strangely enough, there have been more injuries and death is no way to determine that more inspections are needed. That seems to be a rather contradictory approach to me.

There are some other important elements that make the minister's response even more ambiguous. I would like to list a few in the time that I have left. As I just said, Transport Canada is reducing the number of safety inspectors. The Liberal government cut the aviation safety budget by 15% from 2015 to 2017. Transport Canada documents indicate that, for 2016-17, the number of inspections in reaction to accidents, thus after the fact, is nine times higher than preventive inspections. It seems to me that the point of an inspection is to prevent an accident from happening, not to react after it has happened.

We could also talk about the comments made by expert Mr. Moshansky, who said:

Transport Canada has now totally abandoned traditional hands-on regulatory oversight, in-flight inspections and audits across the aviation system...

I am going to skip some examples and come back to the basic question that I asked the minister in the hopes that this evening I will get a response that is more coherent and more in keeping with the statistics that continue to rise. The fact that the numbers are going up means that we are not going in the right direction.

Does the Liberal government intend to reverse this decision and give Transport Canada inspectors back the full authority over inspections?

Aviation SafetyAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

Fredericton New Brunswick

Liberal

Matt DeCourcey LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Trois-Rivières for his question. Canada's air transportation network is among the safest in the world, and our government is constantly working to maintain this level of safety and to improve on it.

Transport Canada has a stringent regulatory oversight program with high standards. The approved check pilot program is one such example. Transport Canada requires that professional pilots regularly participate in a proficiency check carried out by an approved check pilot. This test is designed to confirm a pilot's skills and abilities in flying specific types of aircraft. The frequency of these pilot proficiency checks depends on the type of operation, and on the size and complexity of the aircraft. Canada's requirements and standards are in line with those of other aviation authorities, such as the U.S Federal Aviation Administration, and meet, or even surpass, the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Under this program, which has been around for more than 25 years, the pilot proficiency checks can be delegated to experienced pilots trained and supervised by Transport Canada, according to the highest standards to guarantee compliance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations.

Using expert ministerial delegates is an established practice for highly skilled activities, such as certifying aircraft, checking pilots for various types of licenses, and written pilot exams.

Our government conducts detailed data analysis to ensure that the delegation of authority program provides complete oversight. Data for the past five years show that Transport Canada approved check pilots are effective at ensuring compliance.

Transport Canada recently conducted two thorough assessments of the risks associated with the approved check pilot program in specific commercial aviation sectors.

The assessments confirmed that unplanned risk-based inspections are more effective than planned inspections because they enable inspectors to focus on individuals whose performance is not meeting expectations.

Our government will continue to monitor the program as a whole to ensure that it upholds excellent safety standards. Canadians can rest assured that Transport Canada inspectors will continue to carry out inspections in situations that pose a significant risk to the safety of our air transportation network and resolve those situations while lower-risk compliance inspection duties will be delegated to the most experienced check pilots in the industry.

Aviation SafetyAdjournment Proceedings

6:55 p.m.

NDP

Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. It was quite a speech, but it did not answer the question whatsoever. He states that cuts to Transport Canada are not felt by travellers, but the numbers paint a clear picture.

Oddly, on the subject of what the member said about the International Civil Aviation Organization, that organization has asked Transport Canada to establish biannual pilot proficiency tests. I imagine that in the spirit of its representatives, this responsibility falls to Transport Canada and not the airlines.

To give an example of the increase in incidents and accidents, I have the most recent figures from 2016 and 2017. In terms of accidents resulting in injury or death, there were one in 2016 and nine in 2017. If that is not an obvious tenfold increase and does not give cause to question the approach, then I wonder what the government is waiting for and when it will do something about this.

Aviation SafetyAdjournment Proceedings

7 p.m.

Liberal

Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB

Madam Speaker, the safety and security of Canadian passengers certainly remains Transport Canada's top priority. Instead of ending the testing of approved check pilots, Transport Canada will focus its oversight on areas of greater risk as determined by the data obtained. For example, we know that unscheduled inspections focusing on risk are more useful than planned inspections. The use of industry delegates, namely pilots trained and supervised by Transport Canada inspectors, to certify compliance with regulations is a long-standing practice that is clearly in keeping with the program. Thus, Transport Canada will delegate part of its inspection activities to the industry's most seasoned approved check pilots in order to continue to monitor the program in its entirety.

Aviation SafetyAdjournment Proceedings

7 p.m.

NDP

The Assistant Deputy Speaker NDP Carol Hughes

The hon. member for Calgary Rocky Ridge is not present to raise the matter for which adjournment notice has been given. Accordingly, the notice is deemed withdrawn.

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:02 p.m.)