If I may answer to a degree, it depends on what regime, because before the European Commission started setting Europe-wide standards for things like air pollution, engine emission, noises, etc., each country had its own set of rules. Some seemed very slack, while others were pretty tight.
In general, I think we would do well to move towards European standards. However, I have a qualifier. While European Commission standards have been very helpful in establishing new benchmarks for locomotive emissions, for example, and for noise by railcars—and the silent talent we have in Ottawa is a result of the European Commission's rules—this country is different. We have a lot more freight traffic, and the freight trains are infinitely longer. A long train in France might have 35 or 40 cars. A long freight train in Canada might be 150 cars.
So while I think we should inspire ourselves by European standards, particularly in the area of the environmental limits—noise, pollution, and so on—there is a limit to what the Europeans can offer us.
There are two things. Some countries such as Holland are much more densely populated than Canada, while others such as France have about the same number of people per square kilometre as we do—in most regions of France, other than Paris.
So I think we should inspire ourselves by the European standards, but adopting them slavishly might lead to trouble in some areas.