Transport committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Nina Frid and I am the director general responsible for dispute resolution at the Canadian Transportation Agency. With me here today is the agency's general counsel, Ms. Liz Barker. Thank you very much for

Transport committee  Yes. The certificate of fitness was issued to MMA first in 2002.

Transport committee  If I heard your question correctly, after 2002, MMA requested amendments to its certificate of fitness from the agency. The last amendment was in 2005, so that was prior to the accident.

Transport committee  I will try to address each of your questions. There were several. In terms of current levels, class I members carry insurance in excess of $1 billion. That is quite a significant amount, and is considered by the insurance industry overall quite sufficient. What we heard through

Transport committee  That's what we hear.

Transport committee  That's right.

Transport committee  We don't know for a fact, because we don't have jurisdiction over insurance companies. We've solicited inputs and submissions. That's what we have.

Transport committee  The railways provide a lot of detailed financial information to the agency for a number of purposes, not just for the purpose of establishment and analysis of their liability coverage and their operations. The agency develops costs, rates, and so on, so we have access to railways

Transport committee  I brought some notes to help me answer the question. I don't have the percentages, but I can tell you that for those in class I that hold insurance in excess of $1 billion, the self-insurance retention percentage is substantial. It could range anywhere from 10% to 25%.

Transport committee  I can try to answer that question. This is exactly the question that we asked in our consultation: should those amounts be made public? We solicited a broad range of views, and we will consider that perhaps more information should become publicly available for the people to see.

Transport committee  Yes, I would be happy to. Thank you for your question. The factors are set out in the Railway Third Party Liability Insurance Coverage Regulations. Three categories of factors are listed: third party bodily injury or death, including injury or death to passengers; third party pr

Transport committee  As you said, under the legislation, the railway company has the obligation to advise the Canadian Transportation Agency.

Transport committee  As I explained, we have two types of consultations. The second round of consultations ended recently, on May 9.

Transport committee  We will try to have the recommendations ready for the fall.

Transport committee  I'll try to respond to this as best as I can. It might be interesting to note that in the United States, there is no requirement as there is in Canada for a railway to specifically acquire third party liability insurance. There is no government oversight or requirement in the Uni