Transport committee  I will answer your questions in the same order that I took notes. The first copy of the presentation will come back to you. Was it translated?

Transport committee  We'll make sure that if and when we give it to you it is translated. You would like the recommendations of the panel looked at by SCOTIC before the minister makes a decision on it. I'll relay that to Minister Cannon. As you know, the panel will make recommendations. That's an external, independent panel, so we have to look at those ourselves and make a recommendation to the minister.

Transport committee  I'm pleased to be here today to respond to any questions or concerns the committee may have regarding railway safety in Canada. I'm joined by Luc Bourdon, director general of rail safety. You may recall that we provided the committee with a description of the general foundation for railway safety in Canada when we were last here in May of 2007.

Transport committee  I will start, and Luc will complete. Your first question is whether it is possible to eliminate all accidents. No, it's not possible to do that in any of the modes that we supervise. It's not possible in aviation, on the roads, in the water, or on the rail. Are there standards, or best practices, if you want?

Transport committee  It's all the more possible because the TSB regulations are different from the American ones. In the United States, accidents are only reported if a certain level of material damage is caused to the equipment, whereas here, in Canada, any type of accident is supposed to be reported.

Transport committee  When you refer to the approach, are you asking whether we would question the relevance of implementing the SMS?

Transport committee  I don't think that's where the problem lies. The SMS, in this area as in the field of aviation, is another layer which comes on top of the current regulations. We are not replacing the regulations, we are simply adding another layer. The problem does not lie with the regulations per se, but with the difficulty in enforcing them.

Transport committee  But there were cases even before then.

Transport committee  No, there are none, except for the notices and orders, which we have frequently issued. In fact, a ministerial order was issued under section 32 relating to the SMS, which had just been implemented, in order to force CN to provide us with a plan of action to remedy the situation.

Transport committee  As I mentioned, the act needs a few more tools to make it more enforceable. The only tools we have are the power to issue notices and orders, or to take court action, whereas under other laws, such as the Aeronautics Act, we have a whole range of tools, including monetary sanctions and the power to directly impose fines.

Transport committee  I am happy with the trend, but I'll let Luc answer on the details.

Transport committee  I cannot comment on the first part of the question; however, this is the rule we follow for all audits. Sometimes it is privacy information, sometimes it is third party. It's third party information all the time because we're auditing a company and we need the consent of the company.

Transport committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. We're here to respond to the committee's interest in exploring the subject of railway safety in Canada. I will take some time to provide you with a description of the general foundation for railway safety in Canada, and then take you through the actions that Transport Canada has taken to respond to the more recent safety issues culminating in the minister's decision to launch an independent review of the key legislation governing railway safety in Canada.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  No, not at all, this is only a part of their group. I did not understand that you wanted the entire list of pilots. You spoke to me several times about budgets for training pilots, about the number of hours of flight for pilots, but never did you mention the number of CAIs as such.