Defence Minister Peter MacKay will announce six new measures related to the search and rescue system on Thursday, including new satellites and changes to response times, CBC News has learned.
MacKay has a news conference scheduled for noon in Ottawa with Kerry-Lynne Findlay, associate minister of defence.
CBC's Hannah Thibedeau reported that MacKay, the lead minister for search and rescue, will announce his department intends to spend millions of dollars on two new satellites to better track where people in need of help are located. A second initiative is aimed at increasing the flexibility for mandatory response times for Air Force rescue squadrons.
Currently, between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, they are supposed to depart within 30 minutes, and within two hours on the weekends. MacKay is expected to announce that the hours can be adjusted to account for busy traffic on the water, during lobster season for example in Atlantic Canada.
The 30-minute response time, for example, could be extended for longer periods during the day.
The Coast Guard's reaction time standard is 30 minutes, seven days a week, 24 hours a day and it does modify its operations in times of anticipated need such as busy fishing seasons.
The announcement on Canada's search and rescue system comes in the wake of Auditor General Michael Ferguson's spring report released Tuesday that raised serious concerns about the sustainability of the system.
He found that overall, search and rescue activities have met minimum standards of readiness to respond to calls for help, but he said there are big risks to that readiness. Ferguson said aging equipment and staff shortages are threatening the future quality of the services provided by the Coast Guard and Air Force.
His audit said that in 2012 the Canadian Forces reviewed its state of readiness and concluded that shifting the current 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule by an hour or more could improve coverage during busy periods.
The audit found that search and rescue region commanders do modify the schedule for heavier traffic times such as the opening of fishing season.
Ferguson also noted that the reaction time standards for the Canadian Forces are based on the resources they have available, not on what is actually needed. Ferguson suggested that readiness standards should instead be based on current and anticipated search and rescue needs.
The federal government's process to replace aging rescue aircraft has been dragging on for years and been plagued with problems.
MacKay acknowledged on Tuesday that staff don't have the aircraft they need and that he accepts all of Ferguson's recommendations.
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