Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Professor Gardner, I would like to discuss your proposal. You mentioned the importance of placing people above all else and, in that perspective, you are proposing a new compensation regime for people who are victims of accidents. However, in today's study, we are mostly discussing railway safety to avoid having accidents. I understand what you are proposing quite well in terms of compensation, but I would prefer the issue not be addressed after the fact, but rather avoided altogether, so that a tragedy such as the one in Lac-Mégantic does not reoccur.
In Canada, railway companies have to transport all the products they are presented with, including dangerous goods. It is therefore understandable that Canadian National and Canadian Pacific each carry liability insurance of over $1 billion. What do you think of the idea that owners of dangerous goods should also have to share the liability?
In the case of Lac-Mégantic, the Irving company owned the goods being transported. From what I understand, that company had absolutely no responsibility. In other words, it was not up to Irving to pay for the clean up in Lac-Mégantic. It was not responsible for compensating local residents. Finally, it did not have to pay for the environmental remediation.
Is it your opinion that the time has come for the owners of such goods to assume some responsibility? What do you think about this issue?