Evidence of meeting #27 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agency.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I'll go back to Mr. Rubinstein. Of course in the prairies, we've tested the hauling of grain and commodities related to the agriculture industry, but with the Bakken oil exploration, they've now used some of those same lines not only for hauling grain but for hauling Bakken oil.
What do you do in terms of your certificate of fitness for those rail lines and how have you changed the coverage when that type of change takes place?
Liz Barker General Counsel, Legal Services Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
When railway companies apply for a certificate of fitness, they indicate their commodity mix at the time, and the assessment of the certificate of fitness or the assessment of the adequacy of the liability insurance is done on the basis of the information that's provided at the time. The issue of whether the commodity mixes that are declared reflect the Bakken oil increases is a question.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Do you do any audits periodically from time to time to be sure that changes are properly indicated?
General Counsel, Legal Services Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
No, we don't have an audit function. We rely on the legislation that puts the obligation on the railway companies to self-declare.
Senior Policy Advisor, Federation of Canadian Municipalities
I just wanted to clarify that our comments are directed only to federally regulated railways. We're not speaking to provincially regulated railways like in your province.
Further to the comment just now on the certificate of fitness, that language is something that we've really grappled with after Mégantic, trying to make this connection between changes in dangerous goods movements and the fitness of the railway. We really understand the day-to-day operations. The fitness is about the economics of getting that insurance certificate, self-insuring, being able to pay that out, and the safety functions with Transport, which is why we're looking to Transport to develop a comprehensive regime for catastrophic incidents involving Bakken or another dangerous good.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
With that, we're out of time. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for being here. I appreciate it.
With that, everyone have a good weekend and a good May break.
This meeting is adjourned.