Transport committee  Good day. Bonjour. My name is Marc-Yves Bertin, and I am the director general of marine policy at the Department of Transport.

Transport committee  I don't have the stats immediately in front of me, but if my memory serves me, about 98% of foreign-flagged vessels calling on Canadian ports actually are at the 300-gross-tonne mark or above. From that perspective, the vast majority of foreign-flagged ships would therefore fall

Transport committee  This was one of the dimensions of the conversation at the IMO and one of the reasons we landed on 300 gross tonnage as a threshold. Generally speaking, larger commercial vessels are typically part of what are called protection indemnity associations, or P and I clubs. These are b

Transport committee  To answer the first question, it bears repeating that all vessel owners do in fact remain liable under the wreck removal convention, regardless of the size of the vessel. With respect to the issue of the burden on the taxpayers, I think the honourable member, the leader of the

Transport committee  I'm sorry, but if I could just add...? In fact, from a certification perspective and the requirements to issue certificates, if we are in fact moving towards a lower threshold and if we were to do that, you're quite right in pointing out that there would be an administrative burd

Transport committee  As part of our consultation process, we issued two documents, one in 2010 and one in 2015, in which we looked at the scope and, afterwards, operationalization. We consulted a range of stakeholders, including municipalities, where admittedly there was some support or an interest i

Transport committee  We certainly can. I would also note that the issue of the threshold is something that we recognize there's a conversation about. Because of that, the regulatory-making powers in this statute enable us to take a look at that issue down the road if, for various reasons, there's a d

Transport committee  Yes. I can tell you that during the course of consultations with stakeholders they were quite clear in echoing some of the conversations and statements here about, in their terms, the significant financial impacts on vessel owners that this could represent if we were to lower the

Transport committee  Building on what Natasha was saying around the years of consultation that have gone on, a discussion paper on the provisions surrounding the Marine Liability Act was issued in 2017. We engaged with industry not only in the transportation sector but also the energy sector and rece

Transport committee  If by state you mean—

Transport committee  The amount of money currently stands at $410 million. This is a fund that was brought into existence in 1972. Levies were collected for a period of around four years and ceased in 1976. At that time the fund was valued at $36 million. Of course with accrued interest it's now up

Transport committee  I think it's fair to say that the health of the fund is quite good, and that's a source of assurance.

Transport committee  There are two things in these proposed amendments that speak to the question you've just posed. The first is that, similar to the amendments under the CSA, the Canada Shipping Act, we're telegraphing that into the MLA, the Marine Liability Act, to ensure that the Coast Guard co

Transport committee  The second element that I was going to refer to speaks to the specific issue of emergency funding. Basically in situations where we're talking about a significant event, we're talking about a very significant event—

Transport committee  Fair enough. Basically, in order to enable them to maintain a lean forward posture and to take the actions that are required, this legislation would enable an emergency funding mechanism that would provide them up to $10 million.