Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm struck by those last comments and also by the fact that so many of the improvements we've seen, such as directive 36, are written in the blood of people who have lost their lives in disasters. I think what we're trying to do here at this committee, through this study, is look down the road and try to strengthen the protective system without it costing the lives of our neighbours.
Thinking about what we've heard around these plans and preparedness, I'm struck by Chief Case's words about Canada's geography and the difficulty of applying a standard response across Canada. That hits home, because the part of Canada I represent is a region of rural and remote communities, yet the same volume of goods goes through our communities as through downtown Edmonton. It seems that the risk is dictated by the products and the capacity for response is dictated by the tax base.
Could you talk a bit about the unique challenges that small rural fire departments face when dealing with the volumes of hazardous goods that we're talking about moving through our towns?