Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for being with us today to answer our questions.
For years now, communities in northern B.C. have been asking questions about emergency response when it comes to major rail incidents, such as fires. They see the dramatic increase in the transport of dangerous goods by rail and want to know their communities are protected. Many of them are surprised to learn that small, volunteer fire departments funded through municipal property taxes are the first—and in many ways the only—line of defence against industrial rail fires involving companies like yours, Mr. Harvey. The community of Smithers, where I live, has a municipal budget of less than $10 million. The last time I checked, CN had a market capitalization of $95 billion.
Does it seem fair to you that small communities are having to put up the cost of responding to industrial rail fires involving companies like yours?