Transport committee  I don't think there was a set date.

Transport committee  We'd have to get more details for you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for your introduction, Mr. Chairman, and for inviting me to address the committee today about some elements of Canada's Arctic foreign policy relating to marine transportation. As you know, the north is undergoing rapid change and a warming climate is providing unprece

Foreign Affairs committee  Transport Canada is carrying out a considerable amount of work, under our policy group, on adaptation requirements. We have some funding that is being expended on research on permafrost changes and what kinds of impacts they would have on transportation, roads, etc. We have a s

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll start with a bit of a generality and then drill down a little bit more in detail. Sylvain may have something to add to that as well. The act applies to Canadian territorial waters and also out to 200 nautical miles. The act itself was developed in 1970. It was extremely rob

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think so, no. Then there are specific areas such as our NORDREG reporting and the vessel reporting that we made much more rigorous and mandatory. They previously were voluntary. We made them mandatory a couple of years ago and they allow us to know who's operating where

Foreign Affairs committee  We're looking at what's required and we're having those discussions. We're also looking at areas like the risk assessment that was published recently to guide us in some of the areas that we should look at.

Foreign Affairs committee  The point that I was making was that our act and regulations apply out to different ways, out to 200 nautical miles. The polar code would be for the high seas, outside our territory and area.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's the debate. Obviously this is an international code, so the level at which you can get agreement of all parties is debatable, but we're certainly pushing for the same level of stringent standards. That's what our expectation would be because the impact of something that ha

Foreign Affairs committee  That's not the other name for the northern sea route. I have another name for the northern sea route.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's a very good question. Projections are always very difficult to do, and in this particular case they're even more difficult. The variability on the tourist and the eco-cruise and pocket cruiser side is increasing slowly, and I expect it would continue to increase, but the s

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll answer that. Transport Canada has done some work through our Prairie and Northern Region in looking at where development is likely to happen going forward and where there are other transportation routes that you could look at, beyond a project-by-project basis. Typically

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. In fact, the studies that I mentioned were carried out in conjunction with the territorial governments and the communities. We look at the potential development and the timeframes—those would come in. But you also have to look at the community needs: at the existing communit

Foreign Affairs committee  On that side of things, I think it would be better for Natural Resources Canada to speak to the question. We don't have that kind of analysis. We know of a number of mining projects that are likely to come to fruition over the next 10 years. Those are things we're looking at very

Foreign Affairs committee  Exactly.