24/7 searchand-rescue responses back on table

Defence Dept. move follows criticism after boy’s death in 2012

OTTAWA — The Defence Department is once again taking a look at establishing a round-the-clock 30-minute response time for Canada’s search-and-rescue squadrons, an idea the Air Force has long dismissed as too costly and manpower intensive.

The Harper government has been under pressure to address the issue since last year’s stinging critique by the auditor general and the highprofile death of a young boy in Labrador two years ago.

Two research reports, which crunch the numbers on search-andrescue incidents as well as the cost of a 24-hour, seven-day posture for aircrews, were recently delivered to the Canadian Joint Operations Command, the headquarters that oversees both domestic and out-ofcountry missions.

A Defence spokesman, Daniel Blouin, wouldn’t say what the studies have concluded or when a decision would be made on their findings.

The research builds on a 2008 Air Force study that rejected the higher level of alert as expensive and only marginally better at saving lives than the existing framework.

To meet the round-the-clock posture, the military would need to add between nine and 11 extra crews to the rotations and buy extra aircraft — or reassign existing ones.

The 2008 study projected the Air Force would need up to $2.6 billion more in aircraft and infrastructure and $314 million in additional sustained operations funding to make the plan work.

The military planners, who penned the earlier report, pointed to data that suggested that out of 1,054 rescue missions, nine were time sensitive. Of those, a 30-minute response time might have made a difference in three cases.

Currently, rescue crews — operating from five main bases across the country — are able to get airborne within 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. On weekends and holidays, the response time drops to two hours.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson’s report a year ago said the Air Force could do better, and thenDefence minister Peter MacKay gave rescue area commanders the authority to alter hours of operation as needed.

The department responded with a copy of the Air Force analysis, which was nearly five years old.