Transport committee  With respect, we understand those security risks as well. We're saying we want to take a proactive approach so we can plan for an emergency. As you indicate, even if products change at different times of the year, there is an indication that those products are coming, and we know

Transport committee  Correct.

Transport committee  Yes, we're suggesting that information sharing needs to be enhanced. There needs to be a more comprehensive approach to information sharing. We feel that, certainly since the Lac-Mégantic situation, there has been clear leadership and direction towards the necessity for that info

Transport committee  Usually safe distance indicates binoculars and/or closeness to the proximity of the incident. You approach an incident upwind, uphill from any location, and there are various means to actually get to the scene. In more remote locations like what was indicated, that process might

Transport committee  We are hopeful that in this process that will become automatic. The answer today is that the information may not be available. In some circumstances, it may. In some circumstances, it may not, so that is a key recommendation.

Transport committee  Thank you very much for the question. Essentially what takes place is that we're notified that there's an incident, be it through notification from a rail line that there's been an accident, notification from the public through a call on 911 that there's smoke, or whatever the

Transport committee  The easy answer is that the emergency management process is all-encompassing. The transportation of dangerous goods may be identified as one of the key elements within a municipality because what they do is that they go through a HIRA process, the hazard identification and risk a

Transport committee  Yes. What I'm getting to is that the authority having jurisdiction of a municipality determines what is the priority of that area.

Transport committee  If some of the information is not getting out to citizens or within a specific region or riding, then there needs to be a greater focus on ensuring that if a major rail line goes through a municipality, testing the emergency planning and ensuring it gets bolstered certainly needs

Transport committee  There's certainly the ongoing collaboration that we're using our association to be the conduit for the fire departments across Canada. We're working with various stakeholders to try to increase those training and information-sharing possibilities. That is going to be part of this

Transport committee  Yes, and there is no really short answer to this, but I'm going to turn this one over to Chris Powers. Chris has worked on the transportation of dangerous goods advisory council for over 15 years and has represented us on the ERAP working group, so I'm going to ask Chris to answe

Transport committee  Yes, I guess—

Transport committee  —I should mention something similar to what my colleague said. The easy answer is yes. There are very diverse means of combatting various types of dangerous goods and/or chemicals that are transported, and that philosophy doesn't change whether it's rail, shipping, road, or air.

Transport committee  Essentially we can say that some urban centres, because of the reality of budgets and preparation and training and those kinds of things, are better suited to deal with the myriad different types of chemicals that may go through. For some of the rural departments I mentioned, whi

Transport committee  I think it's the training piece and information sharing right across Canada to ensure that every fire department is on board. As we said, there are 3,500 fire departments, and 3,200 of those are volunteer. In some municipalities and some small centres, we're dealing with situatio