ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A senior Defence official was pressed Thursday on why military choppers were away on training when Cougar Flight 491 crashed last March off Newfoundland and why search-and-rescue response times lag those of other countries.
Under questioning by MP Jack Harris, Col. Paul Drover told an inquiry into offshore helicopter safety that emergency response on March 12 wasn't undermined by the fact that choppers based in Gander, N.L., were two hours away instead of one.
"We had the Halifax search-and-rescue region, the standby posture was in place so we did not reduce our capability at any time during that training exercise," said Drover. "It was just a function of the location."
All three search-and-rescue Cormorants based in Gander were near Sydney, N.S., on training when the Cougar helicopter flight went down about 60 kilometres east of St. John's.
Seventeen of 18 people onboard were killed.
Harris said it's tough to square Drover's comment with the military's own admission that it took twice as long for Cormorants to reach the disaster scene from Cape Breton as it would have from Gander.
Maj. Denis McGuire confirmed in the days after the tragedy that the choppers arrived in two hours instead of one.
In the meantime, a backup Cougar helicopter that had to first be retrofitted for rescue rushed to save sole survivor Robert Decker. He was in the water for about an hour battling trauma, injury and a leaking immersion suit.
Drover said he couldn't compare Canada's search-and-rescue response times to other countries because he didn't know them.
Harris ran down a list of how Canada lags similar seabound regions -- stark proof that Ottawa isn't spending enough on first-line response, he said.
In Ireland, Norway and the North Sea, emergency aircraft must be in the air between 15 and 45 minutes, Harris told reporters outside the inquiry.
Yet the military standard in Canada is 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays, and two hours at other times.
"This two-hour response time, even though they do manage to get an average of 70 minutes, it's too long," said Harris.
"Time is of the essence, as we all know. And the distances that are involved in the Newfoundland and Labrador coast are clearly significant. Getting in the air is only part of getting to the action.
"There are standards elsewhere that are much more proficient than ours and much more robust than ours. And I hope that as a result of this inquiry, we may see a new standard being set."
Randell Earle, lawyer for the union representing about 700 offshore workers, said it's up to federal politicians to ensure enough funding.
"The Department of National Defence operates within fiscal constraints that are set by the government of Canada. They're doing the best they can with the resources they have. It's up to the politicians to allocate the resources so that we have the level of service we need here."
Oil companies that profit handsomely from the offshore could contribute too, Earle said.
Newfoundland's oil industry employs about 3,400 people onshore and off, with about 700 people working offshore on any given day.
The 16 passengers aboard the Cougar helicopter were heading to the Hibernia and Sea Rose sites about 300 kilometres east of St. John's.
Drover testified that the entire Atlantic region must be covered and it's impossible to predict where an emergency might happen.
He said he didn't know whether Cougar Helicopters was informed that military choppers would be two hours away instead of one that day.
The inquiry led by Commissioner Robert Wells was called to help ensure offshore helicopter travel is as safe as possible.
Its mandate does not include the intense debate over whether a 24-hour search and rescue chopper should be based in St. John's.
