Evidence of meeting #129 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was passengers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
You also referenced the circumstances that you endured for those 10 hours, with the lack of food and just basics like drinks, pretzels and that kind of thing. That was, I guess, something that you would have appreciated at that time, before you were later served some pizza.
Was there was no opportunity, in your mind, when passengers may have been able to be unloaded from that train?
Passenger, As an Individual
It didn't seem like there would have been. I remember that when they transferred us to the other train, it looked like we were pretty high up on the highway. A lot of the passengers would not have been able to easily get off the train.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
I'm assuming that there were probably people with disabilities on that train as well.
Liberal
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
How did they endure that 10-hour period, in your mind? Were they really challenged?
Passenger, As an Individual
I would say it was probably rougher for them, yes.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
Ms. Murray, of course you saw the previous testimony by Via Rail officials and so on.
Following this event, did your union get any kind of comprehensive report or suggestions from all of the staff from that particular train about how to deal with this kind of similar event in the future?
Were there any suggestions or recommendations coming in from your staff about what they endured, how to possibly avoid this situation or how to give them more support to be able to deal with the passengers?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I personally haven't seen anything directly from the staff.
I would say this is probably not the first time some of these folks have experienced this type of delay.
I have not seen any report or anything that has come through from the membership from that particular train.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
Don't you think that might be something that your union would want to engage in with all of these staff members, to see if they have some future recommendations or suggestions for dealing with this kind of situation?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I think it's a great idea.
I also think it's a very good idea for Via to engage in this type of conversation with our staff and with their workers. It is really important that they hear how this can be approached and done better. It is Via that will be implementing these things, and it should certainly demonstrate to the workers that it cares enough to hear from them.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
Mr. Coderre mentioned that there didn't seem to be any plan to deal with this kind of situation, and, as things developed, there didn't seem to be any coordinated effort to deal with the folks on the train.
Perhaps it's something your union or Mr. Coderre could make a recommendation on to us as a committee, along with any other suggestions or recommendations that we could use in a future report.
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
We would love to put something together for this committee.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers.
Thank you for that, Ms. Murray. We look forward to receiving any suggestions you'd like to share with us.
It's now Mr. Barsalou‑Duval's turn for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Murray, two years ago, a situation involving a train occurred during the holidays, and it was all over the news. In December 2022, a train was stopped for 14 hours. The issues were similar to those during the September 2024 incident: The toilets weren't working, communication was poor, food was lacking and so on.
In December 2022, the committee heard from Via Rail's leadership. They told us they were going to investigate the incident and make changes to their protocols.
Were any changes made, yes or no? If so, what were they? What was the reaction of staff?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I don't know of any changes. From many years of these long delays, I know a decision has come in for more frequent communication, which Mr. Coderre has explained. Even if there was no information, there was still an announcement made.
However, I can't say I am aware of any changes that have come as a result of those delays around the holiday period, because I think there was actually more than one.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Thank you for your answer.
My next question has to do with the more recent incident, the one that happened on Labour Day weekend. It was a difficult situation for staff and passengers alike. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.
Have you gotten any feedback from staff or passengers about the level of communication with management? Can you tell us more about that?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I think what was communicated on the train was what was being communicated to the staff. There was no plan, so that's what would have been communicated to the passengers on board. It was likely frustrating, but that's what the staff would have been aware of as well.
Bloc
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
I have a point of order.
Just because we're truncating it, I was wondering if we wanted to be extra fair to the Bloc and the NDP and give them five minutes as opposed to two minutes, as this is their last round—if you need it. If you don't, that's okay.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, would you like more time? If the other parties are okay with it—