Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for coming before the committee.
It's interesting to see the statistics since SMS was implemented in the year 2000. We have a couple of anomalies—from 2001 to 2002 there was a slight fall, and from 2005 to 2006 a slight fall also—but generally, the trend has been upwards in terms of accidents.
I noticed, Mr. Lewis, in your presentation—which was very good—that you used the verb “failed”, that the “railway industry has failed to achieve the maximum buy-in” and “Transport Canada has failed to maximize this new approach”, in referring to SMS. From interpreting your comments, I would suggest that the railways have, in a sense, failed to implement effective SMS systems.
Do you believe the implementation of SMS has been a failure or has been ineffective?