Transport Committee on Dec. 10th, 2024

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Yes.

[Michel Béland]

Yes, that's something we could look at. We haven't looked at that. Right now, it's not in real time, no.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Are there other gaps, from your perspective?

[Michel Béland]

No, I don't think so.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Okay. I'm going to leave it at that. I'll save the time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Muys.

Mr. Iacono now has the floor for five minutes.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the witnesses for being here today.

Mr. Béland, could you clarify your role? What exactly is Transport Canada doing? What are you responsible form in terms of the safety of national railways, when it comes to the transportation of goods or people? What is your communication strategy for Canadians, like the ones who might be following our proceedings?

[Michel Béland]

Thank you for the question.

The TDG program promotes public safety in the transportation of dangerous goods by all modes of transport.

So it is not just for rail.

We do that through a regulatory and oversight regime that supports public safety, economic growth, and innovation. We conduct oversight of the transportation of dangerous goods to ensure that entities are following the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and regulations. We also conduct research on various types of tank cars or how different dangerous goods are reacting.

It's an agile, data-driven, risk-based organization. Our inspections are based on risk. We have 118 inspectors across the country, who will inspect all modes. Last year, we conducted over 4,000 multimodal inspections.

We have also enforced the law nearly 6,000 times.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

According to Transport Canada, why are passengers not being prioritized for rail service, given that delays are clearly costing millions of dollars a day in compensation paid to passengers?

[Michel Béland]

I think this question is more for my colleague Mr. Scott.

[Stephen Scott]

If I understand the question correctly, you want to know why passenger trains do not have priority over freight trains.

As I referenced earlier in my comments, I think that in the corridors, in the Quebec City—Toronto area, there's a recognition that a dedicated passenger line is needed, for economic and safety reasons. The high-frequency rail project is being advanced to do that, and that would address the issue in the corridor.

Outside of the corridor, the infrastructure is owned by the railways, the main ones being Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City. They're the host railways, and they have agreements with tenant railways like Via Rail and others to use their infrastructure, subject to those agreements and conditions.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

If there were a dedicated high-frequency or high-speed rail network—a possibility previously studied by this committee—would there still be the concerns we have heard today about priority on the tracks?

[Stephen Scott]

The high-frequency rail project will certainly bring us closer to that goal.

To have a dedicated passenger rail line would definitely move the needle and create the conditions for that in the corridor.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

I have one last question. Is Via considering changing the schedule of its trains in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor as a response to the delays caused by CN's directive?

[Stephen Scott]

As I referenced in my opening remarks, CN is imposing operating restrictions on Via Rail trains at some of its crossings in the corridor, and that is slowing down—

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

I want to know whether Via Rail is considering changing its train schedule as a result of what CN is doing.

[Stephen Scott]

I think that's a question for Via Rail to answer.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Is Transport Canada going to advise Via Rail on this? You can see that there is currently a problem. So what is Transport Canada's role? Do you provide advice? Do you wait until there is a problem before reacting?

You can answer in English if that's good for you.

[Stephen Scott]

Thank you very much for the question.

As a safety regulator, we've launched a comprehensive due diligence review to assess the situation and provide assurances that there's no threat to safety.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Scott.

Thank you, Mr. Iacono.

Mr. Barsalou-Duval, you have the floor for two minutes.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Marier, I am going to come back to the accident in Longueuil because I asked questions that, in my opinion, were not fully answered. You told me that they were still in the process of determining whether there would be an investigation or not. You also mentioned that, in order for us to know the cause of the accident, there had to be an investigation. Consequently, I did not understand whether there was a process, a mechanism or a way to require the railway companies to disclose what happened, so that people would know.

If there is no inquiry, how are people going to find out what happened in Longueuil and find out the causes of what obstructed the traffic in the city for an entire day?

[Yoan Marier]

We have to limit ourselves to our mandate, which is to choose from among all the accidents or incidents reported to us in a year. Then we take the ones that we think warrant further investigation, and we table a report identifying the causes and contributing factors of the accident or incident.

Going back to the Longueuil accident, I was saying that we have not yet made a decision on what we are going to do. I cannot give you much more information. We follow the same process as for all other accidents reported to us. We send an investigator on site to gather information, then we assess the situation and decide on the type of investigation we will conduct. It goes through the process, and then we issue a report. It is the same process for all accidents that are reported to us.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

How long does it take you to determine whether or not you are doing an investigation?

[Yoan Marier]

Usually, it ranges from a few days to a few weeks. We are almost there, because it happened in mid-November.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

It has been almost a month already.