Thank you, Mr. Julian.
Simply to make you aware, in other transport areas they are looking at things like speed limits for marshalling yards for other reasons. You talked about the humping; there are also remote control units they're pushing, which give less control over how fast things go, how hard things couple. While you're looking at Bill C-11 and talking about noise, at the same time there are what are regarded as complementary consultations and discussions going on about various technologies and uses they have to marshal. Again, that's why I said the devil's in the details, because we are aware that things are happening in other areas of Transport Canada that kind of address some of these issues, or may address some of them.
Consider noise, one issue that was raised by our locomotive engineers. Again, if you pick an area where they have very high-priced condos or homes being built and we have a crossing that isn't a properly controlled crossing, they have to blow their whistles: there's no option, they have a requirement to do it. Of course, we can go ahead and build a proper crossing for them and put an overpass in at $25 million to $30 million or more a pop. So I think the devil is really in the details about how we deal with it. Certainly, having lived across from a marshalling yard in Vancouver and being awakened at three o'clock in the morning with a loud clatter and bang, I can appreciate it.
I think somehow we have to balance the needs and interests of the business with what the community needs. I think we have to respect things like sound levels, and we have to do it in a meaningful way. I think we have to look at it holistically. We can't have one part of Transport Canada creating regulations that will make noise under one act and under this act have a bunch of regulations to make less noise.
The devil is really in the details, and we look forward to working with you on them. It's something I really sympathize with.
When we talk about long trains, Transport Canada gave authority for long trains so we can move stuff out of Vancouver. As you understand, coming from there--in fact, we got together out there because it's my original home as well--we have complaints about screeching wheels going around a bend and that it's the railway's fault. Well, we had an economic problem. How do we move all that stuff off the port? Let's make one-mile or two-mile-long trains. Now we have people complaining about screeching. So are we going to use Bill C-11 to stop the screeching when some other department has said we have to do that?
Coming from Teamsters Canada, where we look at all modes of transportation--we look at everything--we tend to view it in a more holistic manner. I think that's why, as we move forward...it's how we link all of these things together to get a solution that will allow our members to do what they do very well and allow the businesses to make business and get the stuff that has to be...and also to make sure that your constituents and Monsieur Laframboise's and others' constituents can have a good night's sleep as well.