Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for being here today.
I will begin with Mr. Demers and then move on to Mr. Marit.
Mr. Demers, you raised some important points. To be very clear, I want to point out that you are here as an individual, but you are nevertheless a member of the Fédération québécoise des municipalités and of FCM.
As you clearly stated, the fact that municipalities are now getting information is a step in the right direction. The previous minister said you should inquire under the Access to Information Act about what goods were being transported in your region. We also approve of that improvement.
However, you also said you wanted to get information in real time. The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs appeared before our committee at our last meeting. The witnesses asserted that it might not be necessary to obtain information in real time but that it would be a good idea at least to get the information in advance. They also said they were not yet getting all the information. They asked the government to do more to ensure that municipalities know in advance what is circulating on their land so they can plan the necessary resources more effectively. As Mr. Marit and the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs said, there are a lot of voluntary firefighters. Consequently, we should focus on prevention.
Could FCM's next recommendation be, for example, that the municipalities should receive information in advance? We have not yet heard that request. Mr. McGuinty mentioned it, and we in the NDP also encourage efforts in that direction because we know that is what the municipalities want. And yet we are not hearing that from FCM. Can you tell me whether that is a clear position of the Fédération québécoise des municipalités?