Boating Industry Canada - February 2009

Heard?

The Canadian Marine Advisory Council (CMAC) and the Recreational Boating Advisory Committees (RBACs):

• What are they?

• What do they do?

• Who participates?

BY JOHN GULLICK AND SANDY CURRIE

Boating Industry Canada wondered if the broad mass of marine industry professionals were aware of what takes place at the CMAC and RBAC meetings between people from our industry and the corresponding government personnel. We invited John Gullick and Sandy Currie who both regularly attend these meetings, to give our Boating Industry Canada readers a brief overview.

Andy Adams - Editor

The question this article attempts to answer is: How do recreational boaters in Canada, (of which there are 5-6 million) and Transport Canada go about communicating with each other?

First there is a twice yearly (May and November) National CMAC that is hosted by Transport Canada (TC). It draws in all those with an interest in things marine, both pleasure and commercial. The focus is usually on more operational issues.

The meetings are very much a combination of useful bidirectional information sharing and discussions, working groups and standing committees, some that work well and some not so well. Some attendees are well informed, while others have limited actual subject knowledge. There are many active participants while others just listen.

Committee set up to discuss issues specifically related to all forms of recreational boating. Often it is a “show and tell” session featuring Transport Canada (TC) staff letting the group know the current status of the specific files they are working on. In a one-day session there is often little time to discuss these issues, let alone fully understand them. Occasionally a cord is struck or a nerve is hit that can result in some constructive debate or some pointed negative feedback.

Lately, within Transport Canada’s Office of Boating Safety and Ship Safety there have been several permanent and temporary staff changes that we feel has resulted in a slowing of the work processes while new or temporary staff get up to speed. Another drawback is that some groups are not present at CMAC: cottagers associations, anglers and hunters, pad-dlers/kayakers to name a few. With the exception of some of the marine trades associations and the occasional manufacturer there are often very few industry people present.

The national CMAC is preceded by Regional CMAC meetings on the coasts, in Quebec and Ontario. Though unlikely, this may be the reason that there is little representation at the national CMAC from outside Ontario. The national CMAC can often be a broader repeat of regional CMAC meetings that have the advantage of a more local input and focus. TC often uses the regional CMACs as consultation sessions and there is frequently useful and important debate.