Well, with VIA Rail, it's pretty understandable. The equipment is much lighter and the trains are much shorter. It's primarily the explanation for lower accidents on VIA Rail trains. Of course, the longer a train is, the heavier it is, and the more likely it is to have an accident.
As to why, if you're suggesting that CN has a lot more derailments than CP, I can only speculate as to what the reason might be. Perhaps for some reason CP has a more serious regard for maintaining a suitable safety margin in train operations. I can only speculate with regard to that.
I think there are a couple of important points about discipline procedures that need to be addressed now.
When Mr. Watson was speaking with Mr. Cotie, I suddenly remembered that at one time I was disciplined because it was 300 to 400 below zero, and I had to open a switch to do some switching in the yard. When it's that cold, quite often the only way you can get the switch to open is to kick the handle on the switch stand. I did it all that time. Everybody did it all the time. There would be no trains running if you didn't do that when it's 300 below zero.
On this particular occasion, I injured myself. I reported the injury because I thought I might have cracked a rib. I wanted to be sure I had put in an injury report in case I had to take time off from work, which it turned out I didn't have to do. But I was called in for an investigation and awarded demerits for having injured myself by kicking the switch stand.