Transport Committee on March 21st, 2016

[Brigitte Diogo]

That's the expectation. That's what the rule has—

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Is there no oversight to see if they've provided that information?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Certainly, Transport Canada will be seeing whether the process that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the railways have agreed to is working and things are happening. Yes, we will be doing that.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

In the Wabamun spill, the derailment and the spill of 700,000 cubic litres of bunker C, was caused, the Transportation Safety Board said, by a replacement with refurbished used rail. There was an inspection of that rail before that train went by, yet they didn't detect a defective rail. Have you now required or prohibited replacement with refurbished rail? Are you now requiring replacement with new rail?

[Laureen Kinney]

I believe that the requirements are very significant in terms of the engineering standards and the actual rules of the quality that has to be achieved. We would have to look at specific elements of exactly what is precluded or not included.

I would add that the inspection requirements have gone into much more detail over the years, and the technology has gotten much better. There's a considerable amount of technology that's used, including spectrum, to try to see if any cracks are developing in rail, and there's a variety of other technical aspects that are used by the railways. They are required to do that on their own. As well, Transport Canada does actual track inspections to make sure the quality is maintained.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Yes, which did not detect any problems.

As you know, this issue about rail, about worker fatigue, was addressed even before 2003. That's 13 years, and Transport Canada has still not intervened to address the serious concerns that were raised. The advisory council raised a lot of issues and very clearly put on the record a lot of significant issues. Is it not time for Transport Canada to intervene and take action? Why do you have to wait for the rail companies to agree to these changes?

[Laureen Kinney]

If I may, perhaps I could just refer to the safety management system regulations that came into effect on April 1, 2015, as a result of some of the ongoing discussions in this area and some of the considerations raised in various fora. This is a requirement. It is very clear.

It's laid down in the regulations as to what is required and what must be done. That is something that we will be doing, providing oversight, doing audits, and providing inspections as well of SMS requirements, as the new regulations come into effect. I'm pleased to say that is the case in the safety management system regulations.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

You require that they have a plan, but you're not requiring that these very significant concerns that have been raised be addressed, such as start time unpredictability and sleep quality not being assured because most of them are on call.

There was a study done of I think the CP Rail line. They found that only 17% of freight service employees had a work schedule; 83% were on call day and night; only 7% were in a time pool; 36% were on a spare board; and there was an extremely irregular schedule. How are we to be assured that this is being addressed? Isn't it past time for Transport Canada to actually prescribe rules for addressing fatigue management rather than letting the companies put profit ahead of safety in their rail lines?

[Laureen Kinney]

If I may, I have a general comment in terms of the requirements for addressing fatigue as well as the safety management system regulations that are in place. We do have work-rest rules that are in place, on top of the rules that are in place that are enforced and overseen by Transport Canada. In fact, some action has been taken where we found problems with compliance to those rules. We have and will take action, and we have no hesitation in taking action.

I would also say, though, in general, that this is an issue that does require considered work and continued work. As in all cases of areas of critical importance to the safety of railway operation, it can continuously be improved. In principle, I think it's fair to say that there are obligations and there are accountabilities. Certainly, the railway companies, the employees, and Transport Canada all work together to address those issues.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Sikand, please.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Thank you. With regard to the recommendations, could you please tell us which recommendations have not been acted upon, and for those that haven't been acted upon, what their status is?

[Brigitte Diogo]

I think we have initiated work on all of the recommendations. The one that has not led to either rule regulations or amendments to the act would be the locomotive and video and voice recorders. When we talk about rail safety, that's one area where we are doing a study right now with the Transportation Safety Board. That should lead to options for consideration on how we move forward on this particular issue.

It's the only one that I'm aware of.

[Laureen Kinney]

I think we just did a quick review of those in terms of the way that the question was raised, and I think that all of the other recommendations have been addressed. That recommendation is being addressed as well.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Can we get the update on the status?

[Laureen Kinney]

If you'd like, we could just walk through the recommendations and note what the status is.

If I'm using the same list, on page 43, there's recommendation 1, regarding staff. As I mentioned, there is staff who are maintaining our oversight regime. It has been allocated in Transport Canada.

I just want to make sure, for my—

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Page 43 of what?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

The safety review report. Does everybody have that?

[Laureen Kinney]

Yes, sorry.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

For clarification, would that be the report that we've been discussing all afternoon?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes.

[Laureen Kinney]

Recommendation number 2 has been met in terms of establishing a new standard in a phase-out schedule. That was published last spring, at the end of April 2015.

Recommendation number 3 is to harmonize the retrofit or replacement of the tank cars. That was the case, and a considerable amount of work was done to ensure that these were harmonized, and the announcement of the two reciprocal regimes was made at the same time.

Recommendation 4 was the comprehensive reform of the liability and compensation regime, which was actioned, obviously, by Parliament.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Further questions from Mr. Sikand? You have two and a half minutes left.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I'm going to share my two minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. Ms. Dabrusin, would you like to pick it up where Mr. Sikand left off.