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.
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I'll defer this to Joel. He's our sector director, so he will have more information on this than I do.
Joel Kennedy Director, Rail Sector, Unifor
Thank you, Jennifer.
Mr. Bachrach, as the national rail director, I have not been consulted by Via Rail in regard to their plans as of yet.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Obviously the committee has the ability to make recommendations to inform the government's role in preparing for these kinds of incidents. What would be your recommendation on the part of Unifor when it comes to improving Via Rail's response, specifically to the government's role? How can the Minister of Transport ensure that Via Rail is better prepared in the future?
Director, Rail Sector, Unifor
Certainly, for different entities that are regulated under the Canadian rail scheme, when changes are being made, there are consultations that happen, and it's mandatory through changes to the railway act or any of our regulations. We're consulted as stakeholders, and we bring a very good perspective in that regard. If we were consulted in an instance like this, we would have an expert like Jennifer available to provide her recommendations when it comes to food, when it comes to training and when it comes to emergency preparedness. However, we've been cut out of this process with Via at this point.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Ms. Murray indicated earlier that she didn't feel like training was the issue as much as investment in adequate personnel and human resources on board the train.
Is that a fair characterization? Have I understood that point correctly?
Director, Rail Sector, Unifor
You understand that point crystal clear. From the feedback that I've always received, it's our members that are really holding the train together in these types of situations. When we talk about lack of water or lack of storage space, this is a train. We can couple another car onto it that's possibly refrigerated or has some space to allow the storage that is needed.
This is a funding problem, not a training problem. I will emphasize that our members are the ones who are holding this train together in these types of situations, with very few resources.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Bachrach, and thank you, Mr. Kennedy.
Next, we have Mr. Vis, for five minutes.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Coderre, thanks for being here today.
Would you support a similar type of passenger bill of rights that we've seen passed for the airlines in Canada, to ensure that when a situation like this happens again, passengers know that it's not okay for a service provider not to meet a specific service standard for passengers in Canada?
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Thank you.
I'll put the same question to Mr. Kennedy or Ms. Murray.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Would Unifor support a passenger bill of rights, similar to what we have passed for airlines in Canada?
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Ms. Murray, in your opening comments you talked about climate or environmental impacts on service disruptions in Canada.
Can you give us some specific examples, please?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
We have to be aware of what climate change is bringing. For example, washed-out tracks and those types of situations will cause great delays. Our infrastructure goes through some very remote areas. We've seen it up north. We've seen it in other places where climate, certainly, has a definite impact on our infrastructure.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
You mentioned infrastructure, and the need for track twinning.
Would Unifor have any specific examples where we could twin our tracks to avoid further service disruptions for Via Rail or rail companies?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
I'll hand this over to Joel, if you're good with that, Joel.
Director, Rail Sector, Unifor
Certainly. For a long period of time now, Via Rail passenger services have been borrowing freight tracks. That's a problem for us. We talk about twinning tracks. It's not necessarily saying that we need twin passenger rail tracks, but we need dedicated passenger rail tracks. Right now, we're running on freight tracks. We're a second priority when it comes to passenger rail. We need dedicated trackage in Canada. For emergency situations, those tracks ought to be twinned for situations just as we've seen and that we're talking about here today.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Just to conclude, what would Unifor see as the biggest takeaways from the delay we witnessed this summer?
Please reiterate what we can be doing at this committee in terms of specific recommendations to avoid further service disruptions for Canadian passengers.
Director, Rail Sector, Unifor
I'll take that one.
We've focused on track infrastructure, but what we're not focusing on is passengers. Jennifer outlined that in her presentation today. We seem to be lacking passenger emergency response plans and preparedness. I will use the example of a Greyhound bus. If a Greyhound bus breaks down, another bus is immediately dispatched. That's not what happened in this case. We look at trackage, and that type of infrastructure. What we need to be looking at are the company and government regulations surrounding emergency preparedness, emergency plans and these types of situations. In our view, that is lacking.
Conservative
Brad Vis Conservative Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC
Do I have any time left?
I'm good.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Vis.
Next, we'll go to Mr. Rogers.
You have five minutes, sir.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to our witnesses today.
First off, Mr. Coderre, I guess I'll come to you for a couple of questions.
In a previous meeting, we had the Via Rail management people here, who apologized profusely. I just want to acknowledge that. This kind of thing is unacceptable and shouldn't be happening, even though Transport Canada has previously invested some good dollars in Via Rail. The train that you were on, I understand, was a relatively new train. For that new infrastructure to fail like that is certainly unacceptable.
As a passenger on the train, there was some compensation offered, as you referenced. It was a cash refund and the price of a one-way ticket or whatever to some destination. Was that enough compensation, in your mind, to satisfy you and certainly the other passengers on the train, whom you might have talked to?
It just seems to me that the compensation is kind of lacking.
Passenger, As an Individual
I would say it was lacking. At first, it felt generous, but when you think about it, most of the passengers who were on the train are probably not going to use the travel credit within 12 months.
The unfortunate part of those credits is that they expire within 12 months.