The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) says Transport Canada takes too long to address its recommendations.
The TSB makes recommendations to Transport Canada when there’s a systemic safety deficiency involving aircraft, rail or marine incidents. Transport Canada, or the company at the centre of the issue, has 90 days to make a plan and address the board’s recommendations.
As of October 2018, about 10 per cent of all recommendations hadn’t been fully addressed for 10 years or longer.
“We believe Transport Canada needs to do more to respond to those recommendations that would bring Canada back into line with International standards,” said Kathy Fox, the chairperson for the TSB.
Following the Swissair plane crash in 1998, which crashed near Peggy’s Cove, killing all 229 passengers, the TSB made 23 recommendations. Some of those recommendations are still outstanding.
The TSB recommended improvements to the cockpit voice recorder, but the TSB said its recommendation was never implemented.
“Canada doesn’t meet the international standards with respect to voice recording capacities of two hours. Canada’s norm is still only 30 minutes,” Fox told CTV News.
Transport Canada said it closed 23 outstanding recommendations that were more than a decade old last year.
“Proposing amendments to any regulations can be complex and requires extensive research and consultation with stakeholders and partners,” said Frédérica Dupuis, a spokesperson for Transport Canada.
The TSB said when timely actions aren’t taken on its recommandations, safety deficiencies persist and pose a risk to Canadians.
Most recommendations that haven’t been fully addressed relate to aviation incidents.
