Transport committee  The changes we're proposing would include such a ship. Let's assume a ship sinks and it has HNS cargo on board. Nothing is coming out yet, but we think it might come out in a few years' time. Yes, the SOPF, in our proposal, would cover that, as they do now. They would cover it in

Transport committee  Of course it is. It always is of the essence.

Transport committee  That is correct.

Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  That's why we like it so much.

Transport committee  We want all Canadians to have the benefit of this fund. We're not inventing the wheel here. The fund exists. It's been working since 1973, and it works very well. It's the model that China and other countries came to Canada to copy. So why are we just saying, “Okay, but they're o

Transport committee  No, it does not.

Transport committee  I wouldn't like to speak to the Zalinski or to any other particular case where I'm not really intimately aware of the facts, but I would say this. The ship-source oil pollution fund as it exists right now only deals with oil, not yet with HNS, but it deals with all aspects of oil

Transport committee  No, it is not.

Transport committee  I would be pleased to answer. First, I would be pleased to submit to the committee a list of the sections. There are six sections. It's very, very simple. It's to remove simple wording in each section, which says, “as respects oil”. By removing that wording, we're not just limi

Transport committee  To get back to liability, as you understand, our recommendation is to extend the use of the ship-source oil pollution fund into HNS. It's precisely to give an additional layer of protection. This can be adjusted by Parliament, but at present, approximately $160 million Canadian o

Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, thank you for the invitation. My name is John O'Connor and I'm the president of the Canadian Maritime Law Association, and I'm here to speak on behalf of the association. I'm accompanied by Dr. Sarah Forté, who is an environmental specialist, and who from time to

Environment committee  Certainly I would agree with what you've just said, in the sense that as the new legislation comes into force, we, the Canadian Maritime Law Association, are very interested, for example, in the Arctic and in developments in the Arctic. But we have no objection to there being pub

Environment committee  I share the point of view that seems to be at the crux of the matter. At federal level, unlike in Ontario and the other provinces, I find the focus to be on a relatively limited number of sectors of the environment. I feel that putting various laws on top of each other, layer aft

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am speaking to you from Quebec City. I was not able to be with you in Ottawa today. I would like to thank the committee for allowing me to participate in this session by teleconference. My name is John O'Connor, and I am the chair of the environmental