Sir, I have seen this thing go both ways. I've seen mediation that led to nothing.
I think Mr. Laframboise and others will probably be familiar with the case in Outremont, where buildings were put up near the tracks. No remedy was really ever found, and I think the problem continues today.
In other cases, such as the Quebec-Gatineau thing, with a mix of hectoring and finally getting the railway's attention and doing some mediation, the problem was solved. I can't say that mediation is a panacea. I'm sorry if my remarks in the paper seem to indicate that. I simply say, before resorting to draconian measures, try mediation.
In the case of Quebec City, where the federal government spent $600 million on removing the track and then putting it back, mediation was never tried. There were a lot of guerilla operations: dumping garbage on the track, coming to city council and raising hell, and writing angry letters to Transport Canada. The establishment ripped out all the tracks. After ten years, everyone was tired of going to Ste-Foy to take the train. They put the tracks back. I think had a little mediation been tried between the curé de Saint-Roch, the parish priest and his people, on the one hand, and CP and CN, on the other, that needless expense to the Crown could have been saved.
It isn't easy for the communities where mediation hasn't worked. As a Transport 2000 person, I have been known to suggest to them ways of getting the railway's attention.
But as I say, the laws of physics apply to railways. We've had railways for over 150 years in Canada. Some of these are just part of nature. They won't go away, just like people won't stop building condominiums right up against railways. If there was a way of indicating a process in the legislation, where you try A, then you try B, and then you try C, and only then do you rip out the tracks, for example....
We at Transport 2000 have seen too many cases where passengers and shippers have been penalized because the shortcut--a quick fix--was taken: we'll just rip out the damn track, we'll fine the railway, or we'll do whatever. Then lo and behold, there's no more freight service to our community. Nobody gains from that.
That's a point of view. I can't answer your question totally, because I know how frustrating it is for some communities.