I honestly have to say it's been tough.
The municipality's fire services receive codes indicating what goods the railway cars are carrying, but we get them after the trains have passed. We need that information before the train arrives, not afterward. We don't need that information once the train has passed. We have to know what's going on in our area if we want to protect ourselves.
I'm 52 years old, and members of my family have been in politics for at least 50 years. As far as I know, no preparedness exercises have ever been conducted with the municipality's fire services in Pincourt, Île-Perrot or Terrasse-Vaudreuil. Those exercises would help protect us. Training should be organized with CP or CN and other stakeholders, but that's never been done.
We get the information on transported goods because we keep requesting it, but we receive it long after the trains have passed. That's obviously a problem. It would be good to get it before then. CP and CN should train the firefighters who work on Île-Perrot to ensure the population is protected.
Honestly, if an incident like the one in Lac-Mégantic occurred, I'd really be afraid for my municipality because I know our firefighters aren't trained to handle that kind of event.
Some will say that other firefighters would come specifically for that kind of incident, but I definitely wouldn't feel safe if it occurred.