:
Good morning. Welcome to the eighth meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House Order of Thursday, November 25, 2021. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants of this meeting that screenshots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.
[English]
Given the ongoing pandemic situation, and in light of the recommendations from public health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on January 28, 2022, to remain healthy and safe, the following is recommended for all those attending the meeting in person.
Anyone with symptoms should participate by Zoom and not attend this meeting in person. Everyone must maintain two-metre physical distancing, whether seated or standing. Everyone must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is recommended in the strongest possible terms that members wear their mask at all times, including when seated. Non-medical masks, which provide better clarity over cloth masks, are available in the room. Everyone present must maintain proper hand hygiene by using the hand sanitizer at the room entrance. Committee rooms are cleaned before and after each meeting. To maintain this, everyone is encouraged to clean surfaces such as the desk, the chair and the microphone with the disinfectant wipes provided when vacating or taking their seat.
As the chair, I will be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting, and I thank members in advance for their co-operation.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, March 3, 2022, the committee is meeting to study Canada's preparedness to respond to Russian threats to Canadian waters, ports and airspace.
Appearing before the committee today, we have the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, as well as the deputy minister, Michael Keenan. They will be appearing in the first half of today's meeting.
In the second half of today's meeting, we will have with us, from the Department of Transport, Mr. Marc-Yves Bertin, director general, marine policy; Julie Gascon, director general, marine safety and security; and Nicholas Robinson, director general, civil aviation. From Nav Canada, we will have Ben Girard, vice-president and chief of operations, and Mr. Jonathan Bagg, director, stakeholder and industry relations.
Witnesses, thank you for appearing before our committee today.
Minister, it is always a pleasure to have you here to answer our questions. It's good to see you this morning. I know that our members are eagerly looking forward to asking you questions.
With that in mind, Minister, I will turn the mike over to you for your opening remarks.
:
Good morning. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you, colleagues, for inviting me to come back and meet with you once again.
I want to begin by acknowledging that I am joining you from the traditional territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe people.
I'm pleased to be joined by, as you mentioned, Mr. Chair, Michael Keenan, the deputy minister of transport; Julie Gascon, director general of marine safety and security; Marc-Yves Bertin, director general of marine policy; and Nicholas Robinson, director general of civil aviation.
Mr. Chair, let me start out by saying that Russia must be held accountable for its aggression against Ukraine.
[Translation]
Russia must be held accountable for its actions.
[English]
In response to President Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the government has taken strong and decisive action. Today I'll be speaking about measures that Canada has taken to restrict and respond to Russian aircraft in Canadian waters, ports and airspace.
As Minister of Transport, I am dedicated to making Canada's transportation system safer and more secure. This includes during times of crisis, as we are witnessing with Russia's attacks on Ukraine. Canadians are outraged by these acts of aggression. This violation of Ukraine's independence and sovereignty has caused unnecessary loss of life, a massive refugee displacement and incredible hardship for the Ukrainian people. Canada stands with Ukraine and will continue to do what is necessary to respond to Russia's unprovoked and unjustifiable attacks on Ukraine.
[Translation]
We will continue to support Ukraine.
[English]
On February 27 we announced the closure of Canada's territorial airspace to all Russian aircraft. On March 16 we also announced the closure of Canada's territorial airspace to all Belarusian aircraft. This means that we prohibited the operation of Russian- or Belarusian-owned, -chartered or -operated aircraft over Canada, including in the airspace above Canada's territorial waters.
A few days after our announcement, the United States followed suit and closed its airspace to Russia, which essentially rendered trans-Atlantic service by Russian airlines non-viable. As of today, approximately 40 countries have suspended Russian air access.
I want to take a moment to highlight some developments that occurred since these measures were implemented. On the same day that Canada closed its territorial airspace to Russian aircraft, Russian Aeroflot flight 111 entered Canadian airspace while en route from Miami to Moscow. Just a few days after that, a private aircraft carrying two Russian nationals landed in Yellowknife. While the investigation of Aeroflot is ongoing, Transport Canada's investigation found that the aircraft that landed in Yellowknife operated against restrictions, and $24,000 in fines were then issued to those responsible.
In addition to these incidents, just before our notice to airmen, or NOTAM, came into force on February 27, a Russian-operated Antonov cargo plane landed at Toronto Pearson. The aircraft has been grounded and prohibited from departing due to the ban on Russian-owned aircraft in Canadian airspace, as it would be in violation of the NOTAM.
These incidents are taken extremely seriously. We will not hesitate to take immediate enforcement action should further incidents of non-compliance with the restrictions occur.
I also announced that we banned Russian-owned or -registered vessels in Canadian internal waters and at our ports. As with our airspace restrictions, we will not hesitate to enforce any breaches of these measures.
In addition, we've strongly condemned Russia's actions at the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization. We will continue to call out any actions that are not in line with international obligations.
In conclusion, by closing our airspace, ports and waters to Russian- and Belarusian-owned and -controlled aircraft and Russian-owned or -controlled vessels, we have acted quickly to find ways to hold Russia accountable. We have already shown that we will take swift action to punish those who violate these measures.
Beyond action against Russia and Belarus, we are also taking measures to support Ukraine. We have developed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine to recognize their certificates of competency issued in accordance with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. This will permit a Ukrainian seafarer with a Canadian work permit to serve on board a Canadian-flagged vessel.
We will continue to stand with Ukraine.
I'd like to thank the committee for its ongoing input on transportation issues. I look forward to continuing our work together.
With that, Mr. Chair, I'm concluding my opening remarks, and I look forward to the committee's questions.
Thank you.
The Aeroflot flight 111 that I referred to was coming from the south, I think Miami, and was heading to Moscow in Russia. It typically, under normal circumstances, would be crossing Canadian airspace. Nav Canada issued a warning, but the pilot claimed humanitarian reasons, so Nav Canada permitted that pilot.
We have looked into it. We are now are investigating how it happened and why it happened. Action will be taken. This was not according to the rules. It was not according to the notice to airmen that was issued by our government. That's why it never happened again. I had conversations with Nav Canada about how that incident happened.
:
Minister, that's a good segue into my next question.
Transport Canada's conflict zone information office issues warnings to air carriers about the risks of operating in conflict zones. You've prohibited airlines, as you've just mentioned, from operating in Ukrainian airspace and advised against flying in Belarus, but there is no advisory or prohibition for Russian airspace.
While Canadian flights have been banned by Russia, this information from the conflict zone information office is also important for other carriers in other countries to assess risk.
Is it safe for commercial flights to operate in Russian airspace at this time?
Welcome, once again, Minister, here with us today in our transport committee.
Minister, we all understand, of course, the gravity of the situation in Ukraine and the dire consequences for the people living there. Certainly we understand the necessity of taking action, as we have, in the transport sector, and of course the potential impact of the supply chain on the economy. When I look at the shipping industry and the importance to our economy and to coastlines in the north and east and west, there are many ports that rely on shipping of course, and obviously everyone would be impacted by the ban.
How do we plan to enforce this ban, and will the Coast Guard be deployed in the event of an incursion?
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First, please let me say that our thoughts today are with the people of Ukraine.
Nav Canada is the not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates the world's first privatized air navigation system, ensuring the safest, most efficient movement of aircraft from the Pacific to the Arctic to the mid-Atlantic, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nav Canada operates the world's second-largest ANS. To support our 45,000 customers, we employ 4,000 people and are deploying groundbreaking technologies to keep the skies safe. Safety is why we exist, and our safety record is one of the best in the world.
Nav Canada thanks the committee for its invitation to address its concerns with respect to the recent restrictions imposed on Russian aircraft entering Canadian airspace. In the normal course, Nav Canada's capacity to act in this matter is very limited. More specifically, in the context of our mandate to operate the civilian air navigation system in compliance with ICAO standards, as stipulated in our governing legislation, we do not have authority to choose who may or may not operate in our airspace.
Our mission is to ensure the aircraft fly safely and efficiently in our airspace by ensuring safe separation between aircraft. When restrictions are put in place through a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, all pilots are required to comply with them. The safety and security of the global air navigation system depend on thousands of aircraft and their pilots following thousands of NOTAMs that exist at any given time.
Practically speaking, Nav Canada does not have a way to physically prevent entry into our airspace. We are not responsible for enforcement actions against any aircraft operator that violates a NOTAM. If a pilot disregards or violates a NOTAM, Nav Canada has but one course of action, that is, to report the offending aircraft to the appropriate authorities while ensuring that the offending aircraft does not impact the safety of all other aircraft in the airspace. Even with a NOTAM in place, Nav Canada requires ministerial authority to deny the offender air traffic control clearances. Even with the specific authority to deny clearances, it does not guarantee that a pilot will comply and may instead choose to enter the airspace.
In terms of reporting the offender, existing procedures require that Nav Canada advise Transport Canada. It is up to Transport Canada to initiate an investigation and impose whatever penalties may be appropriate. If any physical engagement or real-time enforcement is required, Transport Canada may choose to engage the Department of National Defence.
On the morning of Sunday, February 27, 2022, the made the unprecedented declaration that Canada's airspace was closed to all Russian aircraft. Transport Canada then authorized the issuance of a NOTAM restricting Russian aircraft from Canadian airspace, and Nav Canada issued the NOTAM by midday.
Adding complexity to the situation was the fact that the FAA, as the operator of the adjoining airspace, had not yet put in place any restrictions. That afternoon, Aeroflot flight 111 departed Miami International Airport and approached Canadian airspace. The FAA indicated to a Nav Canada controller that the pilot was aware of the NOTAM but claimed they had authorization to enter Canadian airspace on the basis of declaring itself a humanitarian flight. Nav Canada does not, however, determine the validity of these declarations. That is a function of Transport Canada.
It is important to note that, even with a NOTAM as initially issued, any aircraft declaring itself a humanitarian, medevac or other type of emergency flight, would, according to existing processes and procedures, be given access to the airspace and ATC clearances in accordance with international civil aviation protocols.
Nav Canada immediately notified Transport Canada of Aeroflot 111's humanitarian declaration and entry into Canadian airspace, in accordance with approved processes and procedures. On Monday, February 28, Transport Canada subsequently provided written authority to Nav Canada to deny ATC clearances to all Russian flights, including humanitarian, medevac and search and rescue flights. An exemption remains for aircraft with an in-flight emergency, which would be directed to land at the nearest facility.
We are proud at Nav Canada of the work our employees did to quickly develop, to educate and to safely implement the new procedures that operationalize the new restrictions.
In summary, Mr. Chair, our primary responsibility is to manage the airspace above Canada to ensure the safe transit of all aircraft through that airspace. We are confident that all actions taken by Nav Canada and its personnel with respect to this matter were done professionally and to the full extent allowable by all of the respective governing authorities, legislation, regulations, procedures and policies.
I'm happy to answer any questions the committee may have.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our guests.
I just want to say that it was great to see the minister here once again. In his comments, he said there are sanctions that are working and hopefully crippling Russia a bit, and I think that's good news, but the collateral damage also is that some of those are crippling some people here in Canada as well. Before I preface my question, I just want to be clear that each and every one who has reached out to my office, whether it's an agribusiness or a farmer, is supportive of the sanctions, but there are deep concerns.
My riding is in Simcoe—Grey, which happens to be a huge agricultural base. As you know, spring is here and farmers are getting ready to get the crops in the ground. Part of that involves getting fertilizer in the ground as well. As I'm sure most of you are aware, Russia supplies much of the world's monoammonium phosphate, MAP, fertilizer, which is critical for Canada's food production. Right now Canada does not produce any.
I've been contacted by several people in my riding, both end-users and agribusinesses, who are concerned about the impact of the restrictions or the ban on Russian manufacturers, especially when it comes to these fertilizers. Simply put, if we do not get fertilizer in the ground soon, the fall crop yields across Canada will be much reduced. Getting fertilizer is a long process, with quantities ordered long before Russia invaded Ukraine. Often these are paid for long in advance. The contracts are signed and subject to large cancellation fees.
Alliance Agri-Turf, who happens to be in my riding and is actually a large company across Canada, is an important supplier of fertilizer for central Ontario. They've contacted me with concerns over the shipment of these MAP fertilizers coming into Canada. The shipment was originally due on March 15, but Transport Canada told them that the shipment would not be allowed into Canada. It's been pushed back to this weekend to hopefully sort the situation out.
I'm wondering if anyone here can perhaps provide us with an update on the issue of fertilizer. As we know, there's not a lot everywhere else. I want to know if anyone on panel can perhaps give us some guidance.
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As I mentioned, I think it's a question that needs to be put to our colleagues at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
That said, just stepping back for a moment, Canada-Russia trade is relatively small, but it's very much focused on some specific bulk commodities—bulk commodities in the petroleum sector and chemicals, including fertilizers, as you noted, amongst others. As the minister noted previously, measures have been taken against certain commodities. With respect to fertilizers, a chartered vessel that is Russian-flagged can therefore find themselves affected by the vessel ban provisions.
I think in the fullness of time, it will be important that Canadian importers remain sensitive, obviously, to the prohibitions that the government has enacted to ensure that they don't run afoul of these measures.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
[Translation]
Thank you, Mr. Bertin.
[English]
In terms of determining the ownership of the vessel, there are various ways. The simplest one is that the vessel is owned by Russia and has a Russian flag on its stern, so it's a Russian vessel. It can be owned by Russia, but registered in another country. That's also often very clear.
Where sometimes the analysis needs to be a bit more in-depth is when the vessel is being chartered, partly chartered or leased. That's where, with the maritime security operation centres' partners—the Coast Guard, National Defence, CBSA, the RCMP, Transport Canada, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans—we do an in-depth analysis of all the elements that are received on this particular vessel and its cargo, and we time our analysis to the pre-arrival report, which is normally sent to the maritime security operation centre. Equipped with this analysis, we provide as much detailed information as we can to our Global Affairs colleagues, who make the final determination and may request additional paperwork if there is any concern in terms of whether the vessel or any of its charterers could meet the definition under the sanctions.
It is a complex operation, but supported by many departments to be able to have a thorough analysis of that vessel.
:
I come back to the fact that roughly 1% of vessel calls in Canada are Russian-connected, for the purposes of the ban. That said, there are various measures that have been instituted, as well as actions taken by some of the major shipping lines.
In terms of the impacts, sanctions obviously have some very material impacts in the way that supply chain actors operate to make sure that they don't run afoul of the various sanction regimes that exist around the world. What that means, therefore, is that a broad range of actors—whether those are bankers, insurers, shippers or what have you—have to scrutinize their dealings much more than previously, again to make sure they're on the right side of the law in these contexts.
What we're seeing is higher degrees of scrutiny, which can lead to delays. We're seeing some reroutings, but also, as I was mentioning, a certain decline in Russian port activities.
My question is for Mr. Girard, of NAV CANADA.
Mr. Girard, you talked about the Aeroflot flight in your opening statement. If I understood correctly, you said that there was some confusion over whether the flight was authorized to enter Canadian airspace since the FAA had not put in place a restriction. I assume the flight was leaving the U.S.
The FAA provided you with information and you communicated with FAA staff. When a flight enters Canadian airspace, do you check with the pilot or with the originating country?
I'd like you to clarify that for me.
:
Thank you for your question, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.
First, I want to make clear that there wasn't any confusion.
Before the flight, we spoke with Transport Canada and we asked the FAA to reroute the flight to keep it out of Canada's airspace. That's when the FAA controller indicated that they were aware of the NOTAM and that the aircraft was authorized to enter Canadian airspace because it was a humanitarian flight.
According to the procedures in place at that time for air traffic controllers—procedures supported and even mandated by the ICAO—we had to give the aircraft clearance because it had declared itself a humanitarian flight. The same rules would apply to a search and rescue or medevac flight. Those were the procedures in place at the time. The controller on duty followed those procedures and allowed the aircraft to enter Canadian airspace, in coordination with the FAA controller.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The way Canada defines humanitarian or emergency flights is very clear in the CANSCA. That would be medevac, search and rescue, or those related to transport during an international emergency. In this case and in our reviews, we are concerned about how Aeroflot identified itself in its flight plan prior to departure from the United States, declaring a humanitarian flight. We're disappointed in the operator for trying to, as it would appear, circumvent the norms and practices within the aviation industry around the use of humanitarian flights. Humanitarian flights are for emergency purposes, to make sure we are able to prioritize flights into particular spots or put them in the front of the line, as it were, during emergency situations. In this instance, we don't see that. This action by Aeroflot is one that we're continuing to investigate, and we have a great deal of disappointment in its use of the humanitarian designation.
Thank you to all of the officials for joining us today and answering our questions.
I have some questions for Nav Canada, but I wanted to start with a question for Mr. Bertin.
You were talking earlier about Russian exports to Canada and the various products. I understand that Canada announced a ban on the import of crude oil products, but there aren't that many Russian crude oil products, if any at all, at least recently, that have come into Canada. As you noted, other petroleum products and other oil and gas products make up a significant percentage of Canada-Russia trade. I'm wondering if you can provide us with any insights as to why the government didn't place a ban on other petroleum products? If the goal here is to put pressure on Russia and make it feel economic pain, it would seem that targeting products Russia actually trades with us would be a more effective way to do that.
:
The NOTAM is intended, as I said in my opening statement, for thousands of pilots, or whoever's in the air. They obey the NOTAMs in order to keep the airspace safe and secure. In a sense, when the NOTAM is published, it is active immediately and all pilots are required to obey it.
From a Nav Canada perspective, there's time required between when the NOTAM is published and when it is operationalized. You have to understand that this is an unprecedented action that the government took. I've personally been with company for 33 years and I have not seen anything similar to this, so these are procedures that did not exist. The aviation sector is a highly regulated sector, and it requires that we develop procedure according to a certain process and according to a regulated safety management system where we have to identify risks and determine if any mitigation is required.
In addition, at any given time, we've got hundreds of controllers sitting down in position who need to be taken off their positions and briefed on new procedure. Between the issuance of the NOTAM and its operationalization, there is time required.
To your question, as soon as the NOTAM is published, it is effective immediately, but it does take time for Nav Canada to brief controllers and operationalize the procedure, to go directly [Technical difficulty—Editor].
:
Mr. Chair, I wonder if I could add to that.
The notice is for the crews who are operating in and around the area that's impacted. I'll give an example. We issue NOTAMs quite frequently, such as for an incapacitated aircraft on a runway, lighting issues on another runway or potential construction on another runway. There could be many instances.
If you have an incapacitated aircraft on a runway, yes, many individuals are aware of that. They're very aware, and the NOTAM hasn't been issued yet. Individuals in that airspace are working around it. It could be reported in the media as well, and a NOTAM might follow it. It's the instrument of information to crews. The decision to issue the NOTAM has already been made behind that.
Nav Canada and Transport Canada work very quickly. We can issue NOTAMs fairly quickly. I think in this case we were speaking about the potential of issuing a NOTAM even before, earlier into the weekend, so that the system was ready if the decision was taken.
Again, the NOTAM is the notice. It's the poster to tell everyone that this action is being taken. The decision-making behind it can occur, and individuals can absolutely be aware of the notice that will be coming out, before the actual notice is available.
My question is about detection systems, and it's for Mr. Girard.
If I understand correctly, usually, when a foreign aircraft enters Canadian airspace, a flight plan has already been filed, so the appropriate authority is aware of the flight's arrival and can manage it accordingly. How do you handle an inbound foreign aircraft that has not filed a flight plan? What happens in that case? What is your role?
I have another question.
A detection system alerts you when an aircraft is entering Canadian airspace. Is NAV CANADA's detection system the one that the Department of National Defence uses? Does the Department of National Defence have its own system? How does it work on that front?