Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Transport.
This summer, we learned from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada that the number of main line derailments in Canada in the first seven months of 1996 was 50 per cent higher than in the same period last year. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 146 accidents, compared to only 97 last year, for an average increase of seven accidents per month.
Does the minister not think that this disturbing rise in the number of rail accidents is due partly to the appalling condition of the rail system itself, especially in Quebec where, according to a 1995 Transport Canada study, the number of problems on Quebec's main rail lines is three to ten times-