Offshore health and safety regulations back on track
O’regan defends record; critics say federal Liberals didn’t prioritize issue
After years of delay, permanent offshore oil and gas health and safety regulations seem finally to be on track.
Thursday night, the House of Commons finally passed Bill S-3, An Act to Amend the Offshore Health and Safety Act.
Upon receiving Royal Assent, it will become law.
In 2014, the Offshore Health and Safety Act, sponsored by Newfoundland and Labrador Senator David Wells, became law and included transitional safety regulations set to expire after five years to allow for permanent regulations to be written.
In 2018, the Liberal government extended these transitional regulations to Dec. 31, 2020.
Originally Bill S-3 was to have added a further twoyear extension to the transitional regulations.
But it passed the Senate with an amendment put forth by Wells to reduce the extension to one year.
The amended bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on Feb. 25 and passed third reading unanimously Thursday.
“I am pleased to see that this bill has finally passed in the House of Commons with my amendment to ensure sooner enactment of permanent regulations. Offshore health and safety regulations are important — and Canada’s offshore workers have had to go months without regulations backed by legislation,” Wells said in a news release.
“This has taken far too long, and I look forward to seeing modern and comprehensive permanent regulations be enacted before the end of this year.
“There is a deep history of tragedy in our offshore areas — and particularly in my province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is important to me and it should have been important to the government. I will continue to hold the government accountable and prioritize Canada’s offshore workers.”
The transitional regulations expired at the end of 2020 but the passage of the bill retroactively revives the transitional regulations until the permanent regulations are enacted.
The Senate energy committee is compelling the department to set out its path at a June 15 hearing — explaining just how it will produce those permanent regulations.
Wells has been critical of Newfoundland and Labrador’s federal cabinet representative, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’regan for not pushing harder on getting permanent regulations finally drafted, and for the Liberals letting the transitional regulations expire at the end of the year.
Wells told Saltwire Network Friday while he’s pleased it passed in the House, but it shouldn’t have come to this. He also said it shows you can push back at Ottawa.
“Our regional representative in the cabinet and minister of Natural Resources under whom this authority rests should have been advocating more for the interests of our offshore workers,” said Wells.
O’regan was resolute Friday that he has worked diligently on the file.
“I have worked very hard with all parties to get this through the House of Commons as soon as possible,” he told Saltwire Network.
“I accepted the Senate’s recommendation that this not go on for another 24 months — that it be left at 12 months.”
O’regan said he’s grateful to the other parties in the House and to the Senate for making sure it got done.
“Listen, in the context of how divisive sometimes issues of oil and gas and energy and the environment and the economy — how divisive that sometimes can be in this country, I commend members of Parliament, ministers, commend senators for coming together on this really important issue,” he said.
“I worked very hard to make sure that we worked together to get things done in the best interests of the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who work on our offshore . ... They are my primary concern and again I just want to commend all parties for seeing that through and working with me to get it done. That’s what it is about, getting it done.”
NDP St. John’s East MP Jack Harris is also relieved to see the bill passed and the extension shortened but he said Friday he still hasn’t received a good answer why it’s taken so long to draft permanent regulations and why the transitional regulations were allowed to expire.
He said it’s a failure of the federal Liberal government not to take offshore health and safety seriously.
He doesn’t buy O’regan’s explanation for the departmental delay — that the regulations are complicated and Harris said 300 pages isn’t that lengthy to get through.
“You had six years. … That’s not much of an excuse,” Harris said.
Harris is also concerned there’s still no offshore health and safety advisory committee in place for Newfoundland and Labrador and no independent safety agency as recommended by the late Justice Robert Wells in the inquiry into the Cougar helicopter crash.
The wait for regulations that have as much teeth as those sectors of workers on land stretches even further back, Harris said.
“The workers in the offshore have been waiting for permanent, enforceable safety regulations since the early 1990s,” he said.
Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association (Noia) CEO Charlene Johnson said in a statement she’s pleased that the submissions of those who work in the offshore oil and gas industry and are affected by such legislation were heard by parliament and Bill S-3 has passed.
“We thank all those involved in moving this important legislation forward. Now, we just need to see that the offshore regulations are implemented as quickly as possible,” she said.
“You had six years. … That’s not much of an excuse.”
NDP St. John’s East MP Jack Harris