Evidence of meeting #9 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bnsf.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
What's the distance from Lac-Mégantic to Montréal-Trudeau Airport?
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
It's a three- or three-and-a-half-hour drive. It will probably take closer to three and a half hours by bus.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'll just try to make it work. We'd like very much to have all of the committee members there, if possible. Let's see if we can be as flexible as possible so that Ms. Duncan is able to return home in time for her meeting.
I haven't asked who wants to go yet. Maybe I should ask that question right now. Who is able to go?
Mr. Hardie, are you able to go? Mr. Badawey is not. We have Mr. Iacono, Mr. Sikand, and on this side Mr. Berthold of course.
Are you able to go, Mr. Fraser?
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
No. I was actually going to say, when I see some hands not going up, that because of my own family circumstances, I am unable to attend.
I was going to propose a friendly motion that we don't pass motions when the group can't be there, or entertain other committee business. We should go to focus on the information that we collect while we're there, and to meet the affected members of the community, rather than conduct official business.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
We won't be doing that. It's an unofficial visit. There won't be any motions passed. I guess I shouldn't say that, but there won't be a formal meeting as such, at this point.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
We're not going to be conducting any hearings there at this time.
Ms. Block.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Madam Chair, I know I had indicated as soon as the dates were chosen that I wasn't able to attend.
Do we have to take this trip this week? Would there be an opportunity to take the trip at another time?
Given that we have Bill C-10 to address, which is probably going to be referred to this committee, we may not get to the report on this study as soon as we thought.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Certainly, if it were the wish of the committee, we could look at postponing the trip to another date.
Mr. Badawey.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
I'd like to make a comment on that as well because I really wanted to go on this. Actually, I think I was the one who recommended it, but something has come up, and Minister Carr has me doing an announcement in my riding early on Friday morning, so it's next to impossible with the timing. I'm in the same position as Linda. For that reason, I would support Kelly's direction because I know we all want to go. If we can make some arrangements to go at another time so that we could have more people there, that would be very much appreciated.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
I'm thrilled to see that so many members want to go on the trip. I think it would be worthwhile to wait given that so few committee members will be able to take part as it stands now. It would be a shame if regular committee members had to be replaced by individuals who could not help with the writing of the report afterwards.
I would remind everyone that, even though the meetings are supposed to be informal, the goal is for parliamentarians to better understand a tragedy that occurred two years ago and the ensuing reality. I hope we can schedule the trip at a time when the greatest number of committee members are able to take part.
With that in mind, it may be a better idea to postpone the trip. Seeing as the meetings are informal, anyway, we wouldn't necessarily gather a lot of input for the report. Nevertheless, I would like the committee members to keep those comments in mind when it comes time to write the report.
It has been suggested that we hear from the two deputy ministers, which could give us enough time to reschedule the trip and to get ourselves better organized. Truth be told, I had just two days to rally all the participants, so it was a bit tight. But, if I were to have a bit longer, the trip would be all the better for it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
All right. How about if we ask the clerk, then, to canvass all of us when we come back after the break week and see when we might be able to put it together, so we can put enough hours into it.
Is everybody in agreement with the committee?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
The transportation reports that the committee had asked for were just been sent to us a half an hour ago. All of the documents that we have been asking for have finally arrived, so they'll all be in there. It's interesting; we finally got them. That's that part done.
I was going to move to discuss what we know is coming down the pipeline probably fairly quickly, Bill C-10. Here I would just make a couple of suggestions on how we might deal with that, given that I think all of us want to complete the railway study—but legislation takes priority every time. I'd like to get some suggestions or direction from the committee on how you'd like to deal with that, and how many meetings we plan to have on it, and so on and so forth.
Ms. Block, you had your hand up, then Ms. Duncan.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
It's my understanding that we will be voting on that to refer it to committee probably tomorrow or Wednesday. Is that correct?
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Okay. Then I would suggest we finish hearing from our witnesses on the rail safety study, and then could move into reviewing Bill C-10. It's a very short amendment to the act, and so I'm not sure how many meetings we want to take to discuss that—one or two.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Madam Chair, on the rail safety study, I want to thank you. I think you put the request to the clerk to contact the community organizations, including the FCM that I'd recommended appearing. I'm very concerned that we've just heard from one community, but we haven't heard from the representatives of all the big city mayors and the other communities. I know that at least one of the witnesses, Dr. Winfield, has submitted an extensive brief in which he analyzed what he thinks should be done post the Lac-Mégantic disaster. I want to just make sure that, first, he could let us know if he's contacted them, and that when people have contacted the clerk that they want to testify, we should be informed. I'm just wondering if any of them have said that they will submit something because, if they have, we need to have that information before we start discussing the final report.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
The clerk had notified FCM and a variety of other witnesses in particular on your list at the last meeting.
Have you received any response yet?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
What actually might be helpful is if we shift to Bill C-10 and then go back to the railways. I will have had a chance to receive more written submissions by the time we get to doing our actual draft report.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
My understanding is that Dr. Winfield submitted his report to the clerk last week.