What we also hear is what the marine industry raised when it testified before the committee a little earlier. It said it might be a good thing for the Coast Guard to undergo a technological modernization. It might acquire all kinds of new equipment.
Let me give you an example. On the St. Lawrence River, the Coast Guard is trying to implement an electronic navigation system and to reduce the number of buoys in order to better fulfil its own mandate. This does, after all, involve ship safety and nautical safety. This could have an impact on personnel. What do you think about this potential technological modernization?
Secondly, since I don't have much time, I would like to go back to a point Mr. Wing mentioned earlier. I want to be very clear. You referred to the tragic incident at Anticosti Island. You may not have gone so far as to say this, but I want to make sure: if there were casualties or drownings, was it because of a lack of Coast Guard personnel?
I think it is important that we send a message to the population so that it knows that it is not true that when there is a disaster, the Coast Guard and the Department of National Defence cannot react quickly enough to guarantee the safety of the individuals involved. Here, I have the chronology of events at Anticosti Island. At 10:18 a.m. on September 29 a call came in from the vessel in distress and five ships were sent out on site, as well as two helicopters and a Hercules plane. From 10:18 a.m. to 11 o'clock, everything was done that could be done. Unfortunately, only the captain was saved, and two other sailors died. But there were seven-meter waves there, and 50-knot winds.
Thirty or thirty-five minutes after the call came in, people were already there and the only living person left was rescued. Five ships, two helicopters and an airplane were sent out. I don't want to say that the situation is easy for the Coast Guard, but I think that we should not alarm people by saying that the government is not shouldering its responsibilities. If we can improve things, all the better, but I think that we have to be clear and not use data that are inaccurate, in my opinion, to frighten people. I'm not saying that you did that, but I felt a need to clarify things, because this is an important message we are sending out, especially to the people who work in the marine field.