I would like to make several points. I'll make them as quickly as I can. One of them relates to that.
First of all, on the issue of the problems that have been identified, I want to say that as soon as the Cheakamus derailment happened, and then a series of them afterwards, I got dozens of calls from people who work on the trains, and all said the same stuff. They said length of train, dynamic braking, distributed power--over and over again.
It seems to me that we need to learn from these people. We need to learn from the people who are actually doing the work, and take them seriously. I learned more about streamlining in two weeks than I ever thought I would know. Everybody knew and understood...I shouldn't say “knew”. The opinions that were expressed by folks who actually do the work were unanimous. They described the reasons for this spate of derailments. They all used the same descriptors and all described the same reasons. I think there's a lesson for all of us to be learned there.
Point two is with respect to the standards. You made the comment, and you're right, that the standards for reporting and for maintenance and safety in the United States are lower than the Transport Canada standards, but the B.C. standards used to be even more stringent than that. It certainly seems to me that one thing we need to think about is the unique situation and characteristics of the B.C. situation. If it's for you and for the federal Parliament to decide what the national standard should be, certainly somebody has to take account of the fact that we have a very unique situation in B.C.
The third point I wanted to make very quickly was on transparency. It's outrageous that we should have to go to access to information to get this information. It was our office, many months ago, that made the access to information request that resulted in the audits' being made public. As I say on page 2 of my brief, there are three other sections of that access to information request that haven't been complied with yet, all of which would provide useful information to all of us who are concerned about this issue.
Finally, the fourth point I wanted to make, Chair--thanks for your patience--is on the issue of self-regulation. If you're looking to me for a recommendation, I'd say self-regulation is ridiculous. We cannot expect companies whose responsibility is to their shareholders and the bottom line to be regulating themselves when it comes to an issue as important as rail safety.