From a policy perspective, the department would certainly feel that it was a stronger bill. The previous version of the bill limited the liability to $650 million, whereas this bill puts it at $1 billion, so there's a fairly sizeable change. This bill has that liability phased in over time, which is responsive to what some of the stakeholders felt was the need over time to be able to get into the insurance market, to get the insurance required, and to put the fiscal elements in place they would want. That's moving from $75 million to $1 billion over a three-year horizon, starting at $650 million, moving to $750 million, $850 million, and then to $1 billion.
Bill C-22 also more clearly defines psychological trauma, one of the damages that is compensable under the bill, and how that would work over time and how it's associated with bodily injury. It was less clear in the previous versions of the bill. So the longer we officials have had to look at a bill, the longer we have had to try to optimize and refine it to provide as much clarity as possible. As you're parliamentarians, I'm sure you're trying to do the same thing, but time always limits the ability for you to look at everything as much as you can.
Bill C-22 makes explicit that the costs incurred by authorities in responding to an incident are not compensable by the operator. For example, if emergency services of fire, police, or whatnot responded to a potential incident, those costs are not reimbursable to the municipality or the province responsible. They're covered via the emergency services of that particular part of the country.