Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2017 13 IntervIew I think of the Coast Guard as a family. We call each other Coasties. We can't deliver our mandate without a highly trained, engaged, professional, at-the-ready workforce. We've had a couple years, as many federal departments have, of financial restraint. We've had the challenges of the pay system. We've got demographic chal- lenges as we have an aging workforce. We are very much on the page of building on the experience that we have, drawing on the depth that we have in our senior leaders now. I'm talking about captains who are the best arctic ship captains in the world. I'm talking about search and rescue specialists who really know what they're about. I'm talking about environmental response people who know how to do this. They haven't just read it in a book. We're talking about taking that ex- perience and transferring it to young people as they come in, as we look to build as diverse a workforce as we need to be reflective of the Canadian population. If we don't focus on our people, we'll never succeed as an organization. You asked, "How is that different from Commissioner Thomas?" When Commissioner Thomas was here, you may have seen public statements by her that she was focused on five M's: membership, mission, mandate, money, and marketing. Among those five M's, her focus was money, and that was because the Coast Guard was struggling financially. I don't think there's any two ways about it. The announcement of the Oceans Protection Plan last November means that the Coast Guard does have new financial resources available to it. Although we need to be prudent with that money, we need to be focused on the outcomes of the Oceans Protection Plan. I would say that I've really taken her five-M's framework and I've just picked up on the next thing which should always be our highest priority, which is members. I think what I'm doing is consistent with Commissioner Thom- as' vision, and I think there's zero chance that she would disagree that this organization relies on people as much as any organization that you'll find. Q: Talking about the workforce, there's been some news about the hiring blitz within the Canadian Coast Guard. Can you share some more information on that, and what's the latest update? What ranks are you looking to beef up? Over the next two years, we are increasing our workforce by 15 per cent. This will help improve our search and rescue capacity, strengthen our ability to respond to marine environmental emer- gencies, and improve the way we work with Indigenous groups and industry. We need people in many different parts of the Coast Guard. We want to build the teams that focus on environmental response expertise. That includes people who are going to be the leading thinkers, almost academics, if you will. People that are following what's happening in the innovation field. We'll be hiring on that side, but we'll also be hiring people that are going to be the boots "My focus as Commissioner is very much going to be on the people."

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