Transport Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2006

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Then I guess I'm having a hard time understanding Mr. Hood's comments when he left the job.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Storseth.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for helping Mr. McGuinty's mother understand the situation. My mother has some concerns with the mediation process, so that's what I'm going to be directing my questions to.

This legislation gives the agency statutory authority to engage in mediation. It's my understanding that since 2000 the agency has already been doing this as a pilot program. Is this legislative change just simply an entrenchment of what the agency has already been doing, or is this taking another step forward?

[Gilles Dufault]

It's an entrenchment of what the agency has been doing, but it also gives a lot more authority to the agency to deal with these kinds of issues. Previously, we basically had a pilot project and we offered mediation. Now it has become part of the act and we will be able to be more assertive.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

What has your experience been with the agency and mediation? And are there any conflicts between the judicial and mediation roles?

[Gilles Dufault]

We have established a wall between the two roles. If a case goes into mediation, anybody involved in the mediation of this case cannot be involved in the adjudication of the same case if mediation fails.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

So you don't see any potential for--

[Gilles Dufault]

I don't see any problem with it being used so that we have clear roles, and it has been developed and discussed with all the parties involved. That was also a concern for all the parties.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

All right. I guess we have to go back to Mr. Jean. We do have a round.

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm curious about whether or not your mandate, given the new provisions, will allow you to regulate.... You mentioned in one of the first rounds of questions how you regulate as far as noise, etc., is concerned. Are you able to regulate hours of operation? You mentioned how you regulate for a yard, but are you also able to regulate for train traffic to alleviate congestion in some of the cities? Is that part of the new mandate, or has anything been looked at as far as that is concerned? You mentioned the hours of operation--you'd be able to restrict them?

[Gilles Dufault]

I don't think we mentioned hours of operation.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Was it the operations themselves?

[Gilles Dufault]

No, we're going to be able to make a determination on noise when it's unreasonable, but....

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

And what will be the decision—not the actual effect, but does the board have a mandate to be able to regulate hours of operation through any type of municipality, or such a mandate as that?

[Gilles Dufault]

No.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

All right. People talked about this, but is there some sort of subjective measurement that you'll be utilizing for noise assessment to see whether it's unreasonable? I know they've mentioned decibels, etc., but....

[Gilles Dufault]

No, I haven't mentioned decibels. Mr. Blaney mentioned decibels, and I repeat what I said to him in French: at this time we are developing the framework of the guidelines in order to be ready and to start consultation when the act is passed. Until such time, we are basically preparing ourselves.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

And the noise is going to be restricted to unreasonable noise—

[Gilles Dufault]

Unreasonable noise, but I can't comment more than that, because we are starting to work on it. Any other answer would be purely speculative.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I understand. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Monsieur Laframboise.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

To go back to what Mr. Jean was saying, your process for developing guidelines certainly seems complicated. We already have international standards on noise pollution. It is a well-known phenomenon.

Do you plan on bringing in specialists to help you with this?

[Gilles Dufault]

I think the reason that it seems complicated is because we are starting to weed through everything. We will start by establishing the parameters, and then we will undertake consultations with all stakeholders.

The CTA has a great deal of expertise. Having worked on questions related to railway transportation for a long time, we are in known territory. Noise pollution has been part of the CTA's jurisdiction until 1996. The corporate memory has not been lost, we still have it.

We will use all possible means to develop a series of appropriate guidelines that meet the needs of all stakeholders.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

I hope for our sake that the corporate memory has not been lost, because we receive a lot of complaints on this matter.

I would like to go back to my colleague's earlier question. You said earlier that if a private company did not want to divest itself of a railway line, you would not intervene. We are talking about public property and public interest here. If, at a time when public transport networks are being developed, a company is not using a particular section of railroad, do you not think that it would be the moment for your to act as a mediator and ask the company why it wishes to maintain ownership of that section?

Many questions are being asked within the network. Towns and cities are all in the process of studying how they can develop public transport networks. They often turn their attention, in the first instance, to sections of railroad that are not being used. With 2007 almost upon us, do you not think it is time that the CTA had the authority to ask companies to explain why they want to hold on to these sections of railway line? Do you not think that the time is ripe to hold a transparent debate on this matter?