National Defence committee  But it does one thing. To have somebody on the scene to report the situation is important, because then you have a full picture. Yes, that is absolutely correct.

National Defence committee  Yes, absolutely that takes place. That's one of the responsibilities. Again, the focal point of SAR response really is the rescue coordinating centres. The OIC of that centre, the officer in charge, has a daily review of all case activity. There may be a number going on at any particular time, but if any have special interest it's up to him or her to take those next steps to be able to capture what took place.

National Defence committee  It is, and it is a trigger as well--an alarm, if you will--to situations that may be deemed unsafe or ineffective for other reasons. At the same time, it serves to highlight some of the finer moments. As you know, our SAR techs in particular do some incredible work, often at great risk to their own lives, and they get recognition through awards for bravery and the like.

National Defence committee  Perhaps that answers the jet versus turbo question--

National Defence committee  To go out to anywhere in the region?

National Defence committee  Achieving what, sir?

National Defence committee  No, and I don't think we can guarantee a two-hour response by aircraft to anywhere in the region. There's not an aircraft that can go fast enough.

National Defence committee  We are currently still using the national search and rescue manual. It is in a different format from the volume 4 supplementary Canadian one referred to, which I understand is being developed. It's not something I'm particularly involved in. It really speaks to the same elements that are in the search and rescue manual.

National Defence committee  Yes, sir.

National Defence committee  Sir, I'd like to report it has. We're working toward a solution. The difficulty is that we've been using two different databases, and we haven't been rigorous enough in terms of what we're trying to capture. The databases that are currently out there are incomplete in terms of doing the proper performance analysis, and that's an ongoing project right now.

National Defence committee  We are indeed. Again, every time we have year review we look at the program and the past review, and we do our SAR reporting figuring out if there's a need for improvements and change. I would say we were very responsive to ongoing things. Again, I think participation in the Arctic SAR task force is a good example.

National Defence committee  In my estimation, what we'll see in the next version is very little change. The format will be changed, but the content won't because basically it's been developed over many years; it's a reflection of what we were dealing with as a very mature program that's been put in place and created to provide that sort of service to the population of Canada.

National Defence committee  It may be down to that. If I may take this opportunity, that same report that made those observations made another observation. It said that: The management and delivery of search and rescue (SAR) services by the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Forces (CF) is effective and, overall, the Canadian structure and capability are considered as a model internationally.

National Defence committee  That's correct. A lot of times--south of Newfoundland is a good example--our SAR forces will go into the American area of responsibility in pursuit of SAR operations. That's always coordinated.

National Defence committee  As far as the level of service we advertise, 90% of the time we make it to the incident site within four hours. I think when you look at the U.S. statistics it's important to note that's not overland SAR. In fact, the federal government does not provide overland SAR. Our system provides overland SAR and over-the-ocean SAR; therefore, on average, we have to go longer distances.