Transport committee  With respect to inspector numbers, Mr. Grégoire stated and we've stated several times that the staffing levels we're dealing with have not changed. In fact, since 2001 we've gone from 866 authorized staff to somewhere around 871 or 873, if my memory serves me correctly. So it's not a question of changing the authorized staffing levels.

Transport committee  Not based on what we've been presented with so far. It's not something that's....

Transport committee  Prevent or permit, Mr. Fast?

Transport committee  Absolutely, Minister.

Transport committee  Thanks very much for the question. The Auditor General's report and the recommendations that came from it have been accepted totally by the government. In many cases they were reinforcing things that we were already aware of in terms of weaknesses in our approach to putting the system in place.

Transport committee  The national audit program as an administrative construct has been cancelled, absolutely.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The national audit program was an administrative construct to create teams across the nation to deal with the major organizations, whether large airports or large carriers. That centralized administration of the major audits was what was cancelled, not the audits themselves.

Transport committee  Another point to be made here is the responsibility for enforcing the Canada Labour Code and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and the Aeronautics Act. Those are my responsibilities. It's up to me to determine what tool I need to keep the transportation system safe as it applies to the Labour Code and as it applies to dangerous goods in the air.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  There's another way to close that loop. The specific item reported is not against which enforcement action will be taken. What will happen is that if a company does not respond appropriately, in accordance with the standards and expectations of the SMS, then we will go after the company using clauses like that to gain compliance.

Transport committee  It's no different from today, is the answer. If...[Inaudible--Editor]...the report we have to take action in that manner--just the way I've described--that becomes a validation exercise, a type of inspection. That is then reportable and the report is then ATIP-able.

Transport committee  The way you described that, I think, speaks to the fact that the ATIP regulations and laws are there. And now that I've had a chance to look at this one from Mr. Thompson, there's nothing we're doing in this bill that impacts on this at all. Five years ago the same result would have happened to that particular report.

Transport committee  No, they don't lose their protection, but the information itself comes out.

Transport committee  No, the total audit would be available. That's an official document of the department. It's available through ATIP, just like the forensic audits that are done. If we do an SMS assessment, once the regulation's in place, that SMS assessment is no different from the audit we did 10 years ago on Canadian Pacific Airlines.

Transport committee  There are two levels of protection, I think. The first protection is from whether someone is going to take retribution. So what we did in amendment G-3 is to say that it doesn't matter; as long as you've gone to the SMS, you're going to have the whistle-blower-like protections.