Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Transportation today and it is not about the bridge.
I’m not fond of flying. Something about flying through the air, being hurtled through the air at 500 miles an hour in a culvert with a cone on the front doesn’t really make sense to me. But I had occasion to hear a radio interview not so many months ago and something caught my attention that kind of caused me some concern. I’ve been mulling it over. I think the young man that was being interviewed said that he had a problem with a crack-cocaine addiction and that he had been working as an aircraft maintenance engineer for a local aviation firm, and that he had decided on his own volition to quit his job doing that because he felt that it could be putting the travelling public at risk because he was high on crack while he was at work. It led me to wonder if the government, our government, if Transport Canada or some legislating body has responsibility for enforcing or dictating some kind of drug testing for people who are in those types of careers.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member paints a picture that would make anybody nervous, especially flying through the air at 500 miles an hour in a culvert with a cone on it. I’m not totally sure if there is any formal testing in the area of drugs. We are aware that the federal government, who has the responsibility in this area, does have rules related to alcohol and that there is medical testing that has to be done on a regular basis, but I think that’s only every so many years. I could point out, though, that most aircraft companies have built into their safety management systems drug testing, but I would have to follow up with the federal government to see if there’s any intention or if there’s any formal testing, for that matter.
It’s definitely not my intention to cast in any negative light any private carriers or small companies, but we do hear and have heard debate and controversy over the years about people, whether it was a violation of their rights to have mandatory drug testing in certain areas. You hear about in the oilpatch. I certainly know that large companies have their own in-house policies on drug testing and it’s particularly stringent, I believe, on anybody that’s involved in the transportation industry, and certainly for pilots, as the Minister says. I know there are medical tests and tests that are performed on pilots. It’s the folks that are in the maintenance shops that are working on the maintenance of aircraft that I’m concerned about. I suppose this could carry over to anybody that’s working on equipment that’s used for public transportation. I would like to ask the Minister if he could suggest if Transport Canada does not have such policies or rules, if it is within the mandate of this government to legislate or regulate industry in this regard.
Transport Canada does have rules related to alcohol consumption and aircraft operations that pilots must comply with. Whether or not we can also apply rules from the level of the territorial government or Department of Transportation NWT would be something I’d have to explore and see if there’s any mechanism that we could put in place that would give comfort to the Members of this House and to the general public that there is some screening or involvement that the pilots are not... I take it it’s more than just pilots in this case, but I would have to look at it. I’d have to talk to somebody who’s involved in the safety aspect.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
