Fisheries committee  Unfortunately, I don't have the specifics of that case, but I do have to recognize that we did get money through the oceans protection plan to address some of those vessels of concern. We did an inventory. There are about 2,000 across Canada. We did a risk assessment, and we'll address them one by one as resources are available.

Fisheries committee  There is a specific initiative, the Coastal Nations Coast Guard Auxiliary, As well as the Coast Guard Auxiliary we are familiar with, which operates in five different geographical regions. There has been investment in the Arctic, where we more than doubled our capacity. We also have a program that could be very beneficial for volunteers.

Fisheries committee  Yes, the Coast Guard Auxiliary is an essential partner in our search and rescue system, as you pointed out. We have 4,000 volunteers and a thousand units across Canada. For the first time in a long time, our budget for the Coast Guard Auxiliary will be increased. With the oceans protection plan, we were able to obtain additional money because the ships are bigger and cost more to operate.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, Ms. Desbiens. I'm not fully informed of the situation, but I believe that the meeting you requested is being arranged. I'm not aware of all the issues, and we can't discuss specific cases. I can, however, assure you that I believe relations with the unions are extremely important.

Public Accounts committee  The Russian fleet is very different from what we have in Canada, where we have the Coast Guard and we have DND and a navy ship. There is kind of a mix, so that's why I said I don't exactly know.

Public Accounts committee  Not that we know of. We went to the North Pole a number of times to map the continental shelf. It happens that the Russians are around there, but never in what is known as “Canadian waters”.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, we meet yearly at my level with the U.S. Coast Guard commandant and we discuss strategic plans going forward. We exercise together in the Arctic and we're also part of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum. Both the United States and Canada are very active participants in this forum.

Public Accounts committee  It would be a regulatory change. Just to correct something, if a ship is sailing through Canadian waters but doesn't make land, they don't have to report. If they are coming to a port, they have to report within 48 hours.

Public Accounts committee  We've installed multibeam sonar on all of our ships. Whenever the ship is transiting, we can switch it on and collect data that is then is sent to the Canadian hydrographic service to allow them to update all the charts. In the last six or seven years, there's been a lot of data collected.

Public Accounts committee  Depending on the procurement, it's mostly from here, from a company like Desgagnés. There are some companies down south that resupply the communities in the Arctic.

Public Accounts committee  I cannot speak to the Russian capability and priorities and so on. We've actually been serving the north with seven icebreakers that we send every summer. As I said, a couple of years ago it was up to nine. They do the work. We have levels of service that we need to meet as we provide services to industry, and we meet those levels of service over 95% of the time.

Public Accounts committee  When we talk about pollution, it's always a concern. I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I wasn't concerned about that. In Canada, there's a principle called “the polluter pays”. The operator of the vessel is responsible to clean their own pollution. If they don't act properly, then we step in.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, we have what we call the northern marine corridor that we have developed as well. Basically, it's tracking where the ships are. We're going to ask the ships to follow the preferred routes. This is where we can focus our energy to put in aids to navigation. We can do the proper charting in those corridors.

Public Accounts committee  The Coast Guard has been operating in the Arctic for over 60 years. The way we've refuelled our ships has been through tankers that come from down south. Those tankers are maybe going up to refuel communities, and we use that opportunity to buy fuel as well. This is planned months ahead of time.

Public Accounts committee  No, I think it was working. There's the available technology, too. In the last 10 years, we've all seen the use of mobile devices and so on. Everything has increased a lot. Networks are much more reliable than they used to be. We don't depend on physical phone lines, which created some headaches for us in the past.