Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today.
Auditor General, it is an honour to have you here today.
I'm going to start with your statement from the report which I want to read into the record:
We found that Transport Canada had yet to fully address our recommendations from 2013. While the Department has made important improvements to the way it plans and prioritizes its activities and follows up on rail companies’ plans and actions to address deficiencies, it is unable to show whether these actions have contributed to improved rail safety overall. When you devote people and time to addressing issues, you should be able to measure if that investment is making a difference.
As you mentioned in your opening comments:
Rail safety accidents can have serious consequences, causing devastating loss of life and environmental damage. I am very concerned that while Transport Canada has taken some actions to address our recommendations, 8 years after our last audit, there is still much left to do to improve the oversight of rail safety in Canada.
Auditor General, it took four years to build the railroad. Why, in eight years, has this government not been able to implement the recommendations from the 2013 report, if you had to give one broad answer, please?