Thank you.
I'd like to go to a few recommendations. And I'll give you all my questions now, just in case I run beyond my time.
First, recommendation 19--I had asked this question before, only you didn't get to it--has to do with the effectiveness of local health and safety committees, which was raised as a concern. Recommendation 24, in the seventh bullet, talks about “a means of involving railway employees at all levels and, where possible, through health and safety committees and representatives”. That was identified as a weakness during the testimony we heard. Recommendation 24 also mentions that “Transport Canada and industry should work together to develop the tools”. There's a reference, in the third bullet, to a “measurement of safety culture”. We heard that there was a safety culture, but it varied from railway to railway.
I'll jump philosophically to recommendation 39, which deals with transport and follows through the safety culture, if you want to call it that, relating to dangerous goods, hazardous goods, very dangerous goods. In recommendation 38 the panel is recommending that this protocol be developed for hazardous goods not designated as dangerous goods. In recommendation 39, again, it's the same: to establish a standard of emergency response for the rail industry for dangerous goods and environmentally hazardous goods. In light of Lake Wabamun, in light of Cheakamus River, these seem to be particularly important. I'd like your comment on that.
Finally, recommendation 35 addresses the issue that I know was raised by my colleagues from the Bloc and by others--in fact, by both the NDP and the Conservatives--about the relationship with municipalities and the conflict that can occur between railways and municipal planning and development. More particularly, though, the import of that involves crossings, where the existing tracks are, and the recommendation for a five-year action plan. The recommendation here is that a five-year action plan should be developed and should include a provision for shared funding for the improvement of private crossings and for grade crossing improvements. We know that a high percentage of the reported accidents are in fact grade crossing accidents, so I would appreciate your comments on that.