Air safety Round Table: Emile Therien

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Emile Therien retired after 18 years as President of the Canada Safety Council in July 2006. Emile is currently President of PIP-Progress Intelligently Planned, which promotes its services to the non-profit sector sector and small companies.
Emile continues to be a widely respected and much sought-after spokesperson on public health and safety issues/concerns.

Remarks

(Video 2:37)

The Council has been on this concern; it goes back I see from the document in front of me, since April 20th 2007, that’s when we presented before the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (SCOTIC) about our concerns with Bill C-6. So we have a concern that goes back. (See
Canada Safety Council Recommendations on Bill C-6)

Over last while, and I think the helicopter tragedy off the coast of Newfoundland has raised a lot of questions in this country about the state of aviation safety.
I, representing the Council, have been very vocal in the media. I think the

whole issue of aviation safety for those people and the media who are not aware, is gaining traction slowly, and slowly and slowly. If you saw what the Globe and Mail did on it in that you are allowed to sell an airplane in this country that had a major safety flaw, and Transport Canada allowed this to happen – that is very, very mind-boggling. Somebody will have to address what happened there.

Nevertheless, we are on board. I think we have a very legitimate concern and I think more and more Canadians will be asking, what is the state of aviation safety? It certainly resides in the hands of politicians.

I would refer you to a document that the Canada Safety Council put out that is dated October 6th 2008. It is called “Lax Regulation Costs Lives When Political Ideology Trumps Public Health and Safety”. It addresses the issues of food safety and product safety. When we look at the debacle of that bad product that came in from China, you wonder if we really have a Product Safety Branch that still works in this country. It was a disgrace. You should look at that and you say are we a first world nation or are we a fourth world nation. That mess still exists at Health Canada and I don’t see it being fixed in the near future.

We also address rail safety in this country. When you consider that they went to SMS in 1999 with amendments to the Rail Safety Act and since then there have been over 10,000 rail incidents or accidents in this country, 10,000! One of the unions complains that the legitimate objective is to have a derailment every three days and not every day. I mean, it’s unbelievable – this is called Canada.

So I think we are with you people. We have concerns about aviation safety in this country. The small resources that the Canadian Safety Council has will be used to make sure that Canadians fly and fly safely.

Thank you very much.