Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for their presence here with us.
You all mentioned that the Lac-Mégantic tragedy had a big effect on the way in which Canadians now view rail transportation.
Mr. Bourque and Mr. Vena said that they were not in favour of deregulation in the rail sector. There is still no agreement on that. Regulations are adopted and laws are amended, certainly. The government is going to propose safety-related regulations, but that is only laying the groundwork. Companies such as yours, that care a great deal about safety, as you mentioned, will apply stricter standards than those the government imposes.
You say that there are regulations, but the Auditor General and the Transportation Safety Board both say that Transport Canada does not have sufficient resources to get to the bottom of things, do things thoroughly and ensure safety first and foremost. For our part, from a political point of view, we do not agree on the fact that the government does not apply the rules or that the rules are really minimal, and that companies such as yours have to go beyond them.
On the ground, one of the big problems that people point out has to do with the transparency of information. As you know, municipalities do not always have the information on all of the dangerous products that are transported. There are safety management systems that are put in place by companies and Transport Canada, but often, the municipalities are not in the loop and are not informed. The population does not know what is being transported on the rails, which generates a certain concern. The information concerns infrastructure.
In Saint-Lambert, for instance, there is a viaduct that belongs to the CN. Even if they are not experts, people can see it and are very concerned about the state of that infrastructure.
My question is for the CN representative. When people have questions about the state of infrastructure, how can they obtain more information and ensure that there has really been an inspection?