text: Oil companies defend using coast guard ship | CBC News
  CBC News · Posted: Feb 15, 2011 3:24 PM ET | Last Updated: February 15, 2011
  Imperial Oil paid $11 million in 2009 and BP Canada Inc. paid $9 million in 2010 for data to be collected by scientists on the Canadian Coast Guard ship Amundsen, shown here in 2008. (Emily Chung/CBC)
  Because the information is gathered as part of a public-private partnership, it isn't proprietary, he told the committee on fisheries and oceans,
  "It's not data that Imperial Oil or BP are going to keep buried away in a basement filing cabinet," Peacock added. "It allows us to share the data."
  In response to questions from the committee, Peacock said the data was collected for the oil companies by ArcticNet scientists on the Amundsen — not oil and gas industry employees — while they conducted other types of research.
  Raynald Blais, Bloc-Québécois MP for Gaspésie — Îles-de-la-Madeleine, said the oil companies will eventually need to get authorization from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada to drill. In that light, he suggested the use of the Amundsen to support the application for authorization makes the relationship between the companies and the department too cozy.