Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to present to you here today.
Transportation safety is a top priority for Canada's chemistry industry. Our member companies support this committee's review of rail safety and safety management systems, as well as the many other processes that are under way to ensure that Canada has the strongest transportation safety standards in the world.
I'm here today with a member company representative, Marty Cove, who is manager of logistics with Canexus. Marty will give you a first-hand account of how a responsible care company—and I will go into a bit more detail on responsible care in a moment—prioritizes and practises transportation safety. He will share some views on recent developments concerning liability and compensation, and tank car standards.
First, as a brief introduction, our association represents chemistry companies from across Canada that produce a diverse group of products with a wide range of applications and customers. What unites our member companies and guides them with a common goal is responsible care.
Responsible care is more than a safety management system. It is our industry's commitment to sustainability, a requirement for membership in our association, and a true Canadian success story.
It is recognized by the UN and now practised in more than 62 countries worldwide. Its ethic and principles compel companies to innovate for safer and more environmentally friendly products and processes, to be accountable to the communities in which they operate, and to work to eliminate harm throughout the entire life cycle of their products, including their transportation. In fact, the catalyst for responsible care's development was a derailment in Mississauga some 30 years ago.
Ensuring community safety and security is in our culture and our members are committed to transparency. That is why we have programs like TransCAER and TEAP III. Through these programs responsible care companies scrutinize and carefully select their transportation business partners, so that they continuously improve their performance, and inform citizens and first responders about the hazards and risks of the goods travelling through their communities.
We do this in partnership with the railways, including CN and CP, and we're hoping to welcome more sectors into these programs in the upcoming months.
To summarize, we believe in continual improvement, sharing information, best practices, and minimizing risk wherever possible. We believe that everyone has a role to play in ensuring the safe and secure transportation of dangerous goods.
I'll now turn things over to Marty.