Bill S-4 (Historical)

Safer Railways Act

An Act to amend the Railway Safety Act and to make consequential amendments to the Canada Transportation Act

The amendments amend the Railway Safety Act to, among other things,
(a) improve the oversight capacity of the Department of Transport by, for example, requiring companies to obtain a safety-based railway operating certificate indicating compliance with regulatory requirements;
(b) strengthen that Department’s enforcement powers by introducing administrative monetary penalties and increasing fines;
(c) enhance the role of safety management systems by including a provision for a railway executive who is accountable for safety and a non-punitive reporting system for employees of railway companies;
(d) clarify the authority and responsibilities of the Minister of Transport with respect to railway matters; and
(e) expand regulation-making powers, including in respect of environmental management, and clarify the process for rule making by railway companies.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to make a suggestion. Since we have already worked on this bill and since I do not think—I imagine that it will be the same for the NDP—that we will have any amendments, I don't see why we would hold another meeting to do the clause-by-clause study of this bill. I suggest that we support this bill immediately and that it be sent back to the House immediately; that way, we can move on to other bills. If it is the wish of my colleagues, I think that we should immediately support Bill S-4 and send it back to the House in order to move on immediately to our other business.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to continue on the issue of ministerial authority. It means that the minister can, as he wishes, address a situation thanks to his discretion under Bill S-4. The bill gives additional powers to the minister.

[Luc Bourdon]

Bill S-4 does not make research and development mandatory. However some legislation like the Railway Safety Act, some sections of which are included in Bill S-4, do encourage the introduction and use of new technologies under existing rules. For example, under existing rules, we can test new technologies in just about 35 days. If all goes well, in less than four months approximately, we can allow a blanket exemption for a rule or regulation in order to encourage the introduction of new technologies.

For example, we are testing a new technology with Canadian Pacific to eliminate the use of brake tests. We are testing heat detectors that will detect brake malfunction from the heat of the wheels. Almost all companies in North America are examining this revolutionary new technology.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Does Bill S-4 compel the transportation department to research new technologies? Is there any way to put this money aside to shelter it from future budget cuts?

[Luc Bourdon]

I believe that rail transportation is just as safe as air transportation. Our data show a constant improvement in safety. Under Bill S-4, safety will be enhanced even further. For example, railway undertakings have to apply for a safety certificate. The fact that all railway companies must show that they have implemented all measures to guarantee safety before they can even start up operations is a good thing. The same goes for existing railroads. And we will add monetary sanctions which will motivate companies to comply with regulations.

As for the environment, there is a section stating that railway companies will have to file an environmental protection plan with our department. This bill covers a lot of ground, including legal penalties.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the committee for their warm welcome this morning. I greatly appreciate it.

Mr. Bourdon, thank you for sharing your expertise with us.

You have before you probably the most junior member of the committee this morning. But I still have some questions. Perhaps you can give me the big picture.

Air and rail disasters are always the most spectacular. Despite the catastrophic nature of air accidents, we believe that air travel is still the safest mode of transportation. With this new bill, S-4, could we say that rail transportation will edge closer to air transportation in terms of safety?

[Mike Sullivan, NDP, York South—Weston, ON]

Let's move over to the requirement for a railway operating certificate, which is part of Bill S-4. Can you tell me the requirements to obtain one? Will public transit agencies, such as GO Transit, Metrolinx, the new Air Rail Link, TransLink, and other urban transit agencies, need to acquire one of these? And what will they have to do to get one?

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

No, that's not what I said.

I said that we were talking about Bill S-4 today, but you are speaking about another piece of legislation. It is completely different from what we are talking about today. I will say it in French because it is easier for me in that language. I said this was not the topic that we were discussing today. You want us to debate another aspect of the legislation. I never said that safety was not important.

Everything we are doing today, and everything that Transport Canada is doing, seeks to increase the safety of all modes of transportation in Canada. We have been talking about Bill S-4 since 2006, to improve the situation in relation to railway safety.

We are asking people to focus on passing Bill S-4 and to send this bill forward so that it is adopted as quickly as possible, so that we can increase railway safety in Canada. That is what we are doing today.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

We are here to talk about the passing of S-4 , sir.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

It's not about safety but about the transport of dangerous goods, as you said. Bill S-4 will cover a lot of things.

With regard to the environmental issues, as Mr. Bourdon said, we'll have better tools. For dangerous goods, we will follow what the Auditor General said about that. We will continue to have better results, and we'll continue to fix that.

Mr. Bourdon, do you have some words about that?

[Luc Bourdon]

There are actually two things in tab 37 of your binder. One deals with the reporting of unsafe acts directly to Transport Canada without fear of reprisal. So that's going to be in place.

Second, previous safety management system regulations required that a company involve employees in implementing day-to-day management of the SMS. Bill S-4 proposes that a bargaining agent now be involved so that a union representative will be directly involved in selecting the appropriate individual to participate. So that's a great improvement as well.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

It's very important to continue that way. As we said, the tools we will have with Bill S-4 will permit the unions, the workers, to be part of our solution. We have already done a good job, because since 2007 we haven't cut investments in rail safety; we've invested more. Since 2007, train accidents have decreased by 23% and train derailments by 26%. But we want to continue. We want to have better scores.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Once Bill S-4 is passed, we will have implemented 83% of the recommendations.

Luc, where are we now?

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our minister and the Transport Canada officials for being here today.

Obviously, rail safety in Canada is a very important issue. Bill S-4 has had previous iterations before previous Parliaments, itself arising from two reviews that themselves were the result, if we're going back far enough, of a series of major high-profile train derailments in Canada that incurred both loss of life and significant environmental costs. Transport Canada, for its part, appointed an expert panel, which led a comprehensive review and produced a major report—I believe it's about 240 pages and 56 recommendations.

At the same time, I was part of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, which was part of a concurrent study here into rail safety as well. We produced a report with 14 additional recommendations, 70 in total. If I remember some of the substance of the expert report, the ratings on safety performance of rail companies on a scale of one to five, five meaning the highest integration of safety within the company's culture...VIA Rail ranked four out of five, CP about three out of five, and CN two out of five.

Looking at ways of improving rail safety, or the culture of rail safety, in our companies—those 70 recommendations in total—can we have an indication now, four years later, of the progress in implementing both the expert review panel recommendations and the standing committee on transport's recommendations? Where are we on that?

[Luc Bourdon]

I just wanted to add that Bill S-4 increases accountability for railways. In fact, with this bill, provincial jurisdiction railway cars that use federal railways will be covered by the act, which is not the case actually.