Unless a municipality is large enough to afford to take on its own responsibility for safety regulation, the federal government should be able to provide that service. In some cases, it's provided automatically. In Ottawa and Gatineau, for example, the transit systems are federally regulated anyway. In other cases, the service can be provided only if it's paid for. For example, the Province of Ontario has to contract with the federal government to get the safety inspection services for Metrolinx and GO Transit in Toronto. But smaller communities need to have access to those kinds of capabilities, without necessarily having to develop them from scratch themselves.
On October 5th, 2011. See this statement in context.