Evidence of meeting #37 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 industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
I'm sorry?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Are you prohibited from carrying oil on a long-distance basis?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
No, we're not prohibited. It just makes no economic sense for us to do that.
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
It won't ever make any economic sense.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
We're one tanker car. We can't compete with a train that will have 120 tanker cars. The economics just won't work.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Given the log jamming on so much of our rail system in the country particularly last winter, and given the fact that in the next decade we're going to have a million barrels a day of excess capacity from the oil sands which will not be transported by pipeline, are you telling me that your trucking members are not looking at opportunities in this regard?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
No.
I'd like to ask Mr. Bantle about that because he's in the business, but I know they don't see that as an opportunity.
Rod, would you like to comment?
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Sorry, Mr. Bantle, I just needed that answer which was fine.
What I'm hearing is that the trucking industry is not presently looking at opportunities to expand the transportation of oil by truck.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
No, we predominate in the short distance small shipment of all goods. The railways predominate in long-distance bulk heavy shipments.
We're in different businesses.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
What are the most dangerous substances that your truckers carry?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
That would be gasoline, fuel oil, propane, those sorts of things.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
In terms of rail, the government has announced that it's going to inform municipalities after the fact as to what dangerous goods are going through their municipal territories.
Is your industry prepared to inform municipalities as a matter of prior advance notice?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
We haven't actually discussed that question.
I don't know how you would be able to do that efficiently when you consider that if you have a tanker of gasoline, you're going to your local gas station every day.
The municipalities have never approached us to ask for this information. They have dealt with this through the designation of truck routes. Every municipality has truck routes.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
In that respect, we've never been requested....
I don't know how I'd answer because I don't know how difficult it would be. Certainly any information makes things safer, but it's not something that has ever been requested from us.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
You said earlier that “effective regulation and effective enforcement” are critical.
I want to go to the liability question for a second.
A truck has an accident on the Highway 401 or has an accident near some other roadway. It spills a toxic material on land and in water. Who is responsible?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
That would ultimately be up to a court to decide, but where the trucking company is at fault, they are responsible.
Most provinces have what is called pejoratively a “spills bill”, legislation which holds that you are required to pay the costs of cleanup. The concern we have is that some shippers will try to protect themselves through freight contracts by saying that even where it's perhaps not the trucking company who is at fault—let's say there was improper documentation, improper loading where the shipper was responsible, that sort of thing—the shipper is not liable even if it was negligent. That's just not right.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Let me play devil's advocate. We are surrounded here today by people in the trucking business and labour involved in the trucking business. Let's say there were two shippers sitting beside you. What would they say in response to your comment?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Which comment do you mean?
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Well, I've heard what they've said. They've said that the party that is negligent and at fault should be held responsible, but they don't always practise what they preach.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
I see. What do we do to fix that, and how do we share liability? This is, with all due respect, partly about your trucking companies and partly about your shippers, but it's really about Canadians, Canadian land, Canadian soil, and Canadian waterways. How do we fix this so that we don't get a “he said-she said, they're responsible, no, they're responsible” debate? What are the assurances that it's safe?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
One of the things we need is legislation, such as the one that exists now in over 40 states in the U.S. where this is a state matter, not a national matter. Here, it is both provincial and federal. We need legislation that says that shippers cannot introduce freight contracts and hold themselves harmless when they are negligent. That's what we need.