Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Chair, for your introduction. Thank you to the committee members for extending an invitation to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in your study of Bill C-627, an act to amend the Railway Safety Act, s

Transport committee  I believe that the work that we are doing with proximity issues will bring us to these discussions. We realize that the provinces are, to start with, making sure that in each municipality we have what we call a city plan, a development plan. I believe it has to start at that l

Transport committee  Here is a quick answer. That issue is discussed at all the working meetings of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Ontario has demonstrated great leadership in its urban planning legislation to better regulate the development of the rail system. We educate the other provi

Transport committee  The answer to your question is yes. Concerning the importance of having all the information so that we can act in case of emergency, we are, I think, accomplishing progress. On your question of how many municipalities, of course we want all municipalities that have a railway sy

Transport committee  I will ask Daniel to answer that question.

Transport committee  I think in view of what happened in Lac-Mégantic, where we discovered there was not sufficient coverage on the part of those companies that were not classified—the number one companies like CN and CP—we feel there has to be a responsibility there to cover incidents. But what we a

Transport committee  I'll ask Stéphane to answer.

Transport committee  Well, maybe I should ask Stéphane to be more technical and answer that part.

Transport committee  Immediately after the incident there was immediate concern and answer from the minister, assuring us that the government would cooperate with the FCM committee on railway safety. As I mentioned before, we have had the chance to have the minister come to our meetings, listen to

Transport committee  Mr. McGuinty, I would like to add something. A working group was created by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in order to look at the issue of rail transportation. The group represents municipalities from across Canada. We have done a lot of work since last summer. On thr

Transport committee  Do we have to tell the public what goods are being carried on the tracks that go through our municipalities? I think the first priority is to inform first responders and, if there are changes to the products being shipped, we must be informed right away. We have been assured of t

Transport committee  Actually, we have three priorities. We must inform our first responders better, ensure that all equipment and infrastructures are safe and that insurance companies can cover any incidents or accidents. I must say that a great deal of progress has been made on those three issues.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank all the members of the committee for inviting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in the review of the Canadian transportation safety regime. I am the mayor of the City of Bromont, Quebec, and president of the Quebec caucus of