Transport Committee on March 24th, 2015

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

So you're up $2 billion from the last time you were at committee.

[Jim Vena]

You remember that question.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I do.

Mr. Finn, are you as well the chief compliance officer for the corporation?

[Sean Finn, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Services, and Chief Legal Officer, Canadian National Railway Company]

Yes, absolutely.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Your job is to make sure that CN is in full compliance with standards, regulations, etc. Is this not right?

[Sean Finn]

With the laws across Canada and North America.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

It's a pretty important job, isn't it?

[Sean Finn]

It's a pretty demanding job.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Right.

There is a pretty big thrust in the corporate sector towards compliance, isn't there?

[Sean Finn]

That is very much so.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Right. So you would say, would you not, that the chief compliance officer is pretty much involved in risk management for the company and for Canadian citizens?

[Sean Finn]

That officer is not alone, but yes. There is a series of other executives also.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

All right. In the last three years we've had a 1,600% increase in the transportation of oil by rail. Is that right?

[Sean Finn]

For the industry as a whole, yes, there has been, probably.

[Jim Vena]

I don't have the number sitting right in front of me.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

You don't know that? Okay.

We had the minister here, and I asked her why she was cutting $202 million—11%—of Transport Canada's budget. She said she wasn't. We looked at the Parliamentary Budget Officer's numbers and the Library of Parliament's numbers, and those are in fact the cuts: $202 million.

Your company sits on the minister's rail safety advisory committee. Is that right?

[Jim Vena]

Yes.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Okay. Have you advised the minister to hire more systems auditors and more inspectors?

[Jim Vena]

Well, that's a great question. We're not here to dictate to the government or to any government how to do that. We think it's important. Safety is a collaboration of everybody who is involved in it. We work with the regulators. We are open about what we're doing. We are internally focused ourselves. We go outside—

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

The last time you were here, Mr. Vena, I asked you about a number of reports, one of which was the Auditor General's report. Since then we've had the TSB report from Lac-Mégantic. We've had this committee's report tabled two weeks ago. We got the investigation progress update from Gogama. I asked you at the time.... When we talked about Transport Canada, the regulator, you said, “It's not my job to worry that the regulator is given enough money to regulate.”

Do you still stand by that statement? Do you subscribe to that view? Does CN subscribe to that view?

[Jim Vena]

I do.

Listen, it's not up to me to decide, and I don't think it's up to CN or any company to decide. It's the House of Commons. It's the government. It's all the parties. You guys get to decide that, not me.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Is the SMS a partnership between the regulated party and the regulator?

[Jim Vena]

Well, SMS.... I could go on for about an hour.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Is it a partnership between the government, the regulator, and the regulated railway company?

[Jim Vena]

Absolutely. They review our SMS.