Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, let me welcome our Via Rail reps who are with us today. It's greatly appreciated.
When it comes to weather and storms, of course, I don't ride trains. I live on an island. We often experience delays and setbacks because of extreme snow conditions and weather conditions.
I can appreciate the challenges that Via was facing in this particular incident. I think back to 2020 and what we in Newfoundland affectionately call “Snowmageddon”, when the entire city of St. John's was buried under not centimetres of snow but feet of snow—many feet of snow—as well as the entire Avalon region and parts of the island. This can pose a lot of challenges for all sectors.
I listened very carefully to your comments, and I read your written submission about the challenges you faced and the things you had to endure to try to keep your passengers safe. I certainly sympathize with those passengers.
Of course, in retrospect, what are Via's thoughts on how planning for such extreme winter storms can be improved, especially with regard to communications such as those you talked about with Transport Canada and, more particularly, with the passengers and CN? If you would offer some comments on that, I'd appreciate it.