Transport committee  We had indicated that the policy should instead be developed by the Government of Canada, in other words Environment Canada, Health Canada, perhaps—

Transport committee  Transport Canada of course. The UMQ, the Union des municipalités du Québec, could be called upon to participate. The railway companies could also be associated with the project, but I do not know if they should be too closely linked to it.

Transport committee  A partnership is of course desirable, as is good cooperation between private companies and government.

Transport committee  We had two specific objectives: responding to the legal framework, in other words to the bill as such, in terms of unreasonable noise level; and emphasizing the importance of protecting public health and the quality of citizens' lives. That is our basic position. Then, beyond th

Transport committee  The WHO set a decibel level of 55 as a limit beyond which outside daytime noise could disturb normal activities. So, if an upward limit were to be set, for example, it could be 55 decibels. This is consistent with the OECD recommendation as well.

Transport committee  First, any concept of reasonable noise should be discarded. Second, as my colleagues as well as the people from the West have said, we would prefer the term “as little noise as possible”. We took a look at what was being done in Europe, where rail transportation is light years

Transport committee  We don't have the documents with us at this time, but with your permission, we can send them to you at a later date.

Transport committee  Yes. Besides, train whistles are heard almost 24 hours a day. Here is what we want to achieve with train whistling. In order to decrease this nuisance in the City of Québec — and this is likely true elsewhere — we want to introduce other measures such as grade crossings, fences,

Transport committee  We believe, obviously, that with our regulations, everyone would be equal. We would be in favour of such a measure.

Transport committee  For a variety of reasons, several railway lines were closed down in Quebec over the years. On the other hand, railway traffic has increased. The activities are concentrated on new lines as well as on two switching yards. Even as the deregulation of transportation was taking place

Transport committee  With your permission, I will begin. Mr. Demers experiences this problem a on daily basis along with his citizens so he will be able to expand on my answer.

Transport committee  I am accompanied by Mr. André Demers, alderman for the Sainte-Foy sector, where there is a marshalling yard. Mr. Demers is also President of the Commission aménagement du territoire et transports. I am also accompanied by Mr. Marc des Rivières, who is a professional director and