Transport Committee on March 11th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bélanger.

Thank you very much, Mr. Paquette.

Next, we'll go to Ms. Nguyen

Ms. Nguyen, the floor is yours. You have five minutes, please.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for joining us.

I am a big fan of Via Rail. I used to ride the train between Toronto and Montreal all the time when I had to commute from McGill University. I will say, though, that for many years it has felt like maybe we don't always arrive at the time we were hoping for.

Trains are romantic. They're wonderful. They're part of our very important infrastructure corridor, but we've had some incidents over the last few years that really give Canadians some pause about how we're doing on our rail service.

I would love for you to tell me a little bit about the steps that have been taken over the last few years, especially given all of these challenges, particularly around communications, compensation for passengers and ensuring that we're trying to do our best to manage these situations going forward.

[Mathieu Paquette]

Thank you for your question.

I can assure you that we have learned from each incident that we have had. We have reviewed our internal protocols.

I will ask my colleague Marie‑Flore Ducrot to give you more details about the steps we have taken.

[Marie-Flore Ducrot, Vice-President, Customer Experience and Network Operations, VIA Rail Canada Inc.]

Over the last few years, we have constantly learned from the various incidents we have experienced, and this culminated in a comprehensive review of our emergency protocols and escalation steps. We have introduced a new mobilization and alert system with more detailed escalation thresholds to ensure incidents are addressed appropriately and in a timely manner.

We have also modernized everything to do with communication with passengers and with frontline employees to ensure they can answer questions effectively. We want to ensure that people have the information they need to make informed decisions.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

When incidents happen now, what's the practice or policy around compensation or recognition? Getting another Via Rail credit when you are reluctant to get back on the train may not feel like the right way to have that rectified. I'm curious to see what is now in place for customers who experience deep delays or concerns and challenges.

[Mathieu Paquette]

I'll ask my colleague Marie-Flore to give you more details on those matters.

[Marie-Flore Ducrot]

Our compensation policy for operational disruptions mainly offers credit for future travel with VIA Rail. We hope passengers will give us a second chance and that they will have a more pleasant experience.

That said, with major events, such as the incident in December 2025, we acknowledge that the situation is not acceptable for passengers. In fact, passengers affected by this event received a full refund for their tickets and a full credit for a future trip.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Could you talk a little bit about the process for ensuring that frontline staff are now better trained around how to respond in emergency situations? Where has the work been happening on that front?

[Marie-Flore Ducrot]

We revised the way we communicate completely. We have made sure we make more effective and optimal use of the various communication channels at our disposal. We have also made sure that everyone uses the same communication channels so that everyone gets the same information at the same time and in a timely manner.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

I'm done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Ms. Nguyen.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I believe it was agreed we would resume discussion of the motion I moved when I had the floor during our previous meeting.

I will put the motion back on the table. It is worded as follows:

That the Port of Montreal make its remediation plan for the contaminated lands in Contrecœur available to the public and submit it to the committee, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), and that the committee invite the port to comply with municipal regulations and Quebec environmental laws.

Since I had the opportunity to table the motion with the committee, we have had roundtable discussions with all sides to see how it could be amended, or at least how it could be made acceptable to the whole committee.

My understanding is that someone on the government side would like to move an amendment that we can all agree on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

You have the floor, Mr. Kelloway.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Sydney—Glace Bay, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We do have a friendly amendment. I will read the amended motion:

That, on behalf of the committee, the clerk send a letter to the Port of Montreal requesting that it make available to the public and submit to the committee, within 30 days, its remediation plan for contaminated lands in Contrecœur, and that the committee invite the Port to comply with municipal regulations and Quebec environmental laws.

That would be the amendment we are putting forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Kelloway.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, is that agreeable to you?

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

It’s perfect.

Thank you very much to members on the government side for their co-operation. Hopefully, all upcoming matters will be treated in this way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Colleagues, we've heard the terms of the motion and the amendment proposed by Mr. Kelloway. We'll go to a vote on the amendment first and then the revised motion.

Mr. Albas.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Chair, usually the amendment would be sent to us. I'd like you to do that first, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Would you like me to suspend, sir? I can. It's not a problem, Mr. Albas.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, BC]

Can we just vote on this at the end? We still have witnesses here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We're discussing it now. We'll dispense with this first.

Mr. Kelloway, can you get that distributed to the clerk so that the clerk can distribute it to members?

I will suspend for a couple of minutes, colleagues, to ensure that we can get that to the clerk and then distributed to members.

The meeting is suspended to the call of the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I call this meeting back to order.

Now that the motion and the amendment have been distributed to all members, I believe we can go to a vote.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to)

Thank you very much, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor now.

Thank you, colleagues.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Let’s try to make the best possible use of our time today.

Basically, the testimony we have heard so far has reported what we already knew about the new VIA Rail trains in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, namely that the trains procured to serve the corridor break down regularly, if not all the time, when it gets a little cold in winter.

The worst thing is that to renew its fleet of 32 trainsets for the Quebec City-Windsor corridor in 2018, the Liberals chose to award the contract to a foreign entity. They decided that the trainsets would be made in California instead of awarding the contract to our community of Saint‑Bruno and La Pocatière. That’s a loss of $1 billion for our community. Our fellow citizens could have worked on that project. My assumption is that these trains would have worked in winter had they been made in Canada. In Quebec, winter is at the heart of daily life.

A column by Mr. Julien Arsenault in Le Devoir on January 29 stated that VIA Rail does not seem to have learned from its mistakes, and neither has the government, because despite the Liberal Buy Canadian rhetoric and politics, government members are planning to do the exact same thing a second time, meaning they will potentially let this contract go to a company abroad and leave our community penniless in the middle of a tariff war.

With this in mind, I would like to move the following motion:

That the committee request that the Department of Transport ensure that VIA Rail procure its rolling stock from manufacturers established in Canada for the renewal of its fleet, in accordance with the federal Buy Canadian Policy, in order to support the maintenance and development of domestic jobs and industrial capacity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

I will suspend the meeting while the motion is distributed.

Is the motion in both official languages, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval?

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

It will be sent in both official languages very shortly.