Moved second reading of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

He said: Honourable senators, I’m pleased to rise as the Senate sponsor of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act.

Colleagues, this bill addresses two crucial aspects of Canada’s offshore petroleum industry: first, the profound importance of this sector and its workers to the Canadian economy, especially in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and indeed, Atlantic Canada; and second, the overriding importance of safety when it comes to extracting our resource wealth from the frigid North Atlantic. Governments and regulators must continue to do everything possible to protect the health and safety of our offshore workers.

Colleagues, allow me to pause for a moment to acknowledge a remarkable Canadian who played a lead role in the world-class health and safety system that has emerged from this legislative process.

The Honourable Robert Wells, QC, who passed away a few weeks ago, lived an extraordinary life. He was a true gentleman, a Rhodes scholar and Oxford grad who spent a lifetime serving his beloved province of Newfoundland and Labrador and his country. Robert Wells was a Crown prosecutor, a national president of the Canadian Bar Association, and for 22 years, a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court justice.

Justice Wells took great pride in his family. One of them happens to be a member of this very institution. I know I can speak for everyone here in expressing our heartfelt condolences to our dear colleague Senator David Wells.

I’m acknowledging the late Robert Wells because of his tremendous influence on the way we keep our offshore workers safe today. It is a story that begins with a tragedy. On March 12, 2009, a Cougar helicopter, Flight 491, bringing workers from St. John’s to an offshore oil platform crashed in the North Atlantic. All but 1 of the 18 on board perished.

When this devastating news spread, it triggered painful memories of an even greater offshore disaster in my province, the 1982 Ocean Ranger sinking that left 84 dead. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the victims and their families who were impacted by these tragedies.

After the 2009 tragedy, the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board established the Offshore Helicopter Safety Inquiry Commission to investigate the incident and make safety recommendations. Justice Wells was asked to head the inquiry. He produced extraordinary work.

The vast majority of his recommendations went into Bill C-5, the Offshore Health and Safety Act, which is at the heart of today’s debate. As a result of the Conservative government’s diligence and the Senate sponsor of Bill C-5, at that time, Senator David Wells, that bill became law in 2014.

The Offshore Health and Safety Act amended two accord implementation acts and established a new occupational health and safety regime in Canada’s Atlantic offshore areas. The purpose of the regime is to prevent accidents and injury arising out of, linked to or occurring during the course of employment in the offshore petroleum-related activities. The act clarified the health and safety roles and responsibilities of the Government of Canada, the two provincial governments and the two bodies responsible for regulating offshore exploration and development: the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.

The act also spelled out in detail the specific duties expected of each of the parties involved: operators, employers, supervisors, employees, contractors and interest holders.

It gave offshore board officers comprehensive powers to further enhance safety. The legislation also established a new appeal process for the most serious cases. In certain special instances, this process would enable the provincial minister to appoint a special officer to help resolve a contentious case. It provided modern enforcement powers to new occupational health and safety officers and to existing operational safety officers.

While the Offshore Health and Safety Act is broad in scope, it goes a long way towards protecting the health and safety of our offshore workers.

The bill that is before us today, Bill S-3, is narrow in scope and straightforward. When the Offshore Health and Safety Act was enacted in 2014, the government put in place strong interim transitional regulations under the accord acts while permanent regulations were developed. These transitional regulations are set to expire on December 31 of this year.

Bill S-3 simply extends the period of time that the transitional regulations will remain in place until December 31, 2022. This extension will allow Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador the time they need to finalize new, modernized regulations tailored to the unique offshore workplace conditions through appropriate consultations and coordination. The permanent regulations that are being developed will replace the transitional regulations with a single, comprehensive occupational health and safety regulation.

You may be thinking: Why is it taking so long to develop permanent OHS regulations? Well, the regulations are very complex, totalling nearly 300 pages and with more than 100 domestic and international standards incorporated by reference. They are being developed to be consistent with the joint management framework that characterizes the Atlantic offshore. This means that the regulations must be vetted and agreed upon by Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia, and this can be time consuming.

There are also a number of other factors at play, including extensive consultation and engagement with stakeholders, as well as competing drafting priorities and, most recently, new challenges imposed by COVID-19.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has a detailed implementation schedule in place with the Department of Justice and our provincial partners. We are confident the work that remains can be completed with two additional years this bill would provide. I recognize that we are closely approaching expiration date of December 31, 2020.

Clause 3 of Bill S-3 ensures that the extension of the transitional regulations will apply retroactively to January 1, 2021. This will ensure continuity of these regulatory requirements even if the bill is passed after the expiry date. This will also provide much-needed assurance and certainty to our offshore workers and personnel in the interim.

In 2014, Atlantic Canada’s offshore sector was in high gear and fostering prosperity. Today it is reeling from several crises: a pandemic-induced global recession, the impacts of global price wars and climate change advocacy. These are significant concerns. The industry’s economic impact in Newfoundland and Labrador has been profound. My province generates one quarter of Canada’s conventional light crude and 8% of all crude. The industry supports thousands of jobs and has generated more than $22 billion in royalties for the provincial government since 1997. It is responsible for close to 30% of our provincial GDP.

The Atlantic offshore industry operates under strict environmental rules and has produced some of the lowest-emitting petroleum products in the world. However, offshore petroleum exploration and development are highly complex and inherently risky work. These workplaces are located upwards of 500 kilometres offshore and away from the nearest hospital emergency room. There needs to be extra vigilance in preventing accidents from occurring in the first place, but also capability to respond to all emergencies that may occur, as rescue support could be hours — or, depending on weather conditions — days away from responding.

We can show our support for the offshore and its workers by supporting Bill S-3, which will give the governments of Canada, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador the needed time to address the technical complexity and sheer volume of regulations associated with the Offshore Health and Safety Act. Allowing for this time will help facilitate the formal completion of a new occupational health and safety regime in Canada’s Atlantic offshore area — one that will prevent accidents and injury linked to employment in offshore petroleum industry-related activities.

The key principles of this regime include: employee rights, including the ability to refuse dangerous work without fear of reprisal; a culture that recognizes shared health and safety responsibilities in the workplace; regulations that apply broadly to offshore petroleum activities, including the transport of workers; and an effective and efficient regulatory regime based on mirrored provincial and federal legislation and consistency between jurisdictions.

Honourable senators, I think we can all be proud of our role in developing a clear occupational health and safety framework — one that is enforceable by law and free of any jurisdictional uncertainty, and prioritizes the well-being of our offshore workers. I urge all honourable senators to support Bill S-3. Thank you. Meegwetch.