Mr. Lewis, you had a recommendation or a suggestion that municipalities and developers should consult with Transport Canada regarding new developments. I envisage perhaps two situations. Say a developer is putting in a subdivision two miles down the road, and the density of secondary roads traffic will increase as they lead to primary transportation arterial roads. How far away do we have to consider this? What is reasonable proximity to a rail line, or is it just subjective? Or do you have to consider every situation on its own? Should Transport Canada have to sign off on these developments? What do we do with existing development, whether it's residential, commercial, or industrial? Should we--we being the Government of Canada--be funding initiatives to improve hazardous situations with current development? Is it sort of a double-edged sword? Should we be providing not only consultation on the new development but assistance to a municipality, such as at crossings? Crossings are very expensive to put up, with the signals, etc. That's a concern, as well as new development.
On March 13th, 2008. See this statement in context.