Evidence of meeting #16 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was noise.
A recording is available from Parliament.
October 3rd, 2006 / 3:50 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
The minister decided to appoint a certain number of members in order to comply with the Official Languages Act.
3:50 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Laframboise Bloc Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
Bill C-11 will create more work for you. Do you think that it will create problems?
3:50 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
Our assessment is that we can do the work with five members. Each member's workload will be increased, but I do not believe that it will delay the handling of cases. It will not be easy; it will be a challenge. We will need to adapt, but the minister can also appoint three temporary members.
3:50 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Laframboise Bloc Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
Those members would handle some of the workload.
3:50 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
They could help if the workload increased and it became impossible to manage or if special expertise were required, for example, in dealing with a very technical case where none of the members—
Right now, the work is being done by five members. One position is vacant and one member is on long-term sick leave. So we are operational with five members.
3:50 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Laframboise Bloc Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
My next question is for Mr. Isenberg.
Clause 29 of the Bill makes a change in the rail sector by amending subsection 95.1 of the Act with respect to noise regulations. Up to now, when there have been complaints, you could not take any action. The new regulations will enable you to do so.
Can you give me an example of the type of action that you will be able to take?
I know that in some cases, you attend meetings, but you have said openly that you were not able to impose any noise reduction requirement on operators.
What new way will you be able to use to deal with these problems?
3:50 p.m.
Seymour Isenberg Director General, Rail and Marine Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
The new legislation gives us the power to order a rail company to change its operations from time to time, if possible. We did not have that power under the former legislation, but now we can do that.
If I may, I will continue my answer in English.
As it reads, the legislation gives us the authority on last resort. In other words, it's intended so that the parties try to solve their problems themselves first. We would enter into a case only if the parties involved could not resolve the issue. Now the legislation gives us the authority, in consultation with the fact that railways do have to operate, to develop a process and a solution that we feel confident will be able to work towards solving the problem.
Noise is a complex issue. It deals with perceptions, individual issues, history, and so on. I'm confident that with this legislation we will go a long way in helping people resolve this issue.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Laframboise Bloc Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
Do you think that you will be able to impose a solution when you feel it is necessary?
3:55 p.m.
Director General, Rail and Marine Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
Yes, we do have the right to order the railways to change their operation. However, in light of the existing laws, they have a right to operate and a level of service obligation, meaning that railways operate for the benefit of their clients.
When I talk about clients, I mean shippers.
In that case, we have to take into consideration that railways are operations that run continuously and need that kind of thing. At the same time, we have the experts to allow us to mitigate those procedures as much as possible. I'm confident we will be able to do quite a bit in that area.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much, Mr. Dufault and Mr. Isenberg and Ms. MacDonald, for being with us here today.
Following up on the questions asked by Mr. Laframboise and Mr. McGuinty, I want to come back to how the Canadian Transportation Agency operates. How many employees do you have? You have talked about the number of members, but I would really like to know at what point the cases are dealt with by employees and members respectively.
3:55 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
The members are involved in all cases at some stage since every case has to be signed off by an Agency member.
The employees are there to handle the cases. They do the research and the analysis, and they recommend approaches and various alternatives to the members.
There are a wide range of cases. Some are routine matters, such as the issuing of a licence, for example. Over the past year, we issued 1,800 air service licences. Those kinds of cases are all handled by specialized staff. When all the research has been done and the applicant meets all the requirements for a licence, the members issue the licence.
On the other hand, when there is a problem, when a company does not meet all the requirements, the members have to decide what to do and what additional information is needed. The staff work very hard to prepare cases, so that members can concentrate on the major issues and not on the details.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
I have not understood that. That is important. There are 260 employees.
4 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
So those employees do the preparatory work for the various licence applications?
4 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
They do the preparatory work and write the draft decisions. After the case has been analyzed, there are discussions between the Agency members and the staff. Then the members make a decision and instruct the staff to write and submit the draft decision to the Agency members. It is a little like a member of Parliament asking an assistant to write a speech: there is a discussion and the speech is approved.
4 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
All right.
What was the total number of cases that you saw through the process last year, for example? I am talking about complaints, licences, etc.
4 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
Many of them, nearly half, were licence applications by airlines.
4 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
You said that you did not believe that eliminating two member positions would create problems. You are operating right now with five members. With the number of cases that you have, it seems to me that it would interfere with your ability to get the work done.
