Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
First of all, Mr. Hayes, my thanks to you for your report highlighting what has happened at Transport Canada over the past few years.
Ms. De Silva, I would also like to thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Keenan. This is not the first time we have had the opportunity to speak. I would like to say that Transport Canada has made progress over the past few years on rail improvements since the Lac-Mégantic tragedy. Many improvements have been made, but allow me to focus on what can be further improved, Mr. Keenan. I feel it is important.
A report like the one tabled by Mr. Hayes is worrisome for people in the Lac-Mégantic area. In that respect, to put you in context, I will read two passages from the mayor of Lac-Mégantic's open letter:
The day after the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic, consciences awoke, political will rose, and committees mobilized. But seven years later, are we collectively forgetting what happened that night?
A little further on, she writes:
But what I am asking you today, out of a duty to remember, is to see to it that everyone moves to action, and does so quickly. If reports are this worrisome seven years later, something is wrong. I would thank you to take the reports seriously.
Mr. Keenan, I saw in your responses that you had decided to take action, but what worries the people of Lac-Mégantic a lot is the response time given this shift to digital you are undertaking. How can you assure the people of Lac-Mégantic right here, right now that measures are being taken and you are acting as quickly as possible? When I look at the current report, I see many gaps. It shows that the department has not followed up on violations identified during inspections. Some of the gaps raised in 2011 have yet to be corrected.
Mr. Keenan, in a nutshell, what can you do to speed things up? Actually, what we want is to make things go even faster.