Thank you very much, colleague.
When we got here, one of the most important issues was railway safety. We had seen an increase in the number of car derailments, accidents, and environmental problems, and the respect of the regulations that were in place.... We determined that it was important to proceed with a review. I believe all the colleagues around the table here were in agreement with that way of doing things.
We then called upon a former Minister of Transportation, Doug Lewis, to chair that committee. As you mentioned, he did table his report not long ago. Among the things he noted was the need for an increase in communications among all parties who are involved in the field of railway safety. Whether they're from the union labour association--the person who works in that area--or whether they're the boss of the company or his representative, there has to be an advisory panel. I think that was one of the major components in Doug Lewis's recommendations.
We immediately brought together people from all sectors of the industry. All were people who were involved in the issue of railway safety. We brought that board together. As a matter of fact, I had the opportunity last week to sit down with them and thank them for their participation.
I clearly feel that was one of the things that was lacking. It was among other recommendations, of course, but that was one of the sectors in which we needed to be able to be more proactive, so what we have now established is a permanent way of speaking with people on issues that affect their industry. That is extremely important, because it will help us as parliamentarians to move forward with other measures that need to be put in place.
Having said that, I think the general gist of what we needed to do was to be able to look at the regulations that are there and see how to tweak them in some ways, how to modernize them so that they reflect what we want as parliamentarians, as Canadians, in terms of railway safety and how we should go about it.
I think we're on the right course. We're going in the right direction, not only with this advisory panel but also with the recommendations Mr. Lewis put forward in his group.