Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of my party to address Bill C-58 on railway safety. From the outset, I would point out that our party intends to vote in favour of this bill at third reading.
Shortly after the accident at Biggar, the Minister of Transport announced he would be postponing the introduction of changes to the Railway Safety Act in Parliament, to give his senior officials time to examine the need for new improvements to the act and develop mechanisms to assess safety and apply regulations.
To this end, as is the practice in all bureaucracies, a task force was set up to examine railway safety that comprised experts in risk management and in regulatory matters.
On January 31, 1998, the senior officials submitted to the minister their report containing a variety of recommendations arising from the work of the committee. On March 18, 1998, the Minister of Transport announced his acceptance of the recommendations and gave his departmental officials the job of carrying out the statutory changes as quickly as possible.
On November 5, the Minister of Transport tabled the proposed changes to the Railway Safety Act in the House of Commons. They included a new statement of policy, the power to require railway companies to report all important information in order to ensure railway safety, the power to require railway companies to implement safety management systems and, finally, among other things, an increase in the powers of railway safety inspectors.
More specifically, the objectives of the Railway Safety Act as amended by Bill C-58 are as follows: first, promote and provide for the safety of the public and personnel, and the protection of property and the environment, in the operation of railways; second, encourage the collaboration and participation of interested parties in improving railway safety. It could perhaps be mentioned that there is a provision in this bill that unions be consulted, that there be greater co-operation between workers and railways. Our party can only give its hearty approval.
Front line workers are the best judge of optimum safety regulations, not managers in their ivory towers in Montreal, Toronto or Calgary.
We are therefore delighted that this bill makes provision for such participation and co-operation by the various parties concerned.
Third, this bill recognizes the responsibility of railway companies in ensuring the safety of their operations. And finally, this bill facilitates a modern, flexible and efficient regulatory scheme that will ensure the continuing enhancement of railway safety.
Generally speaking, this is a very technical bill, the purpose of which is to improve railway safety, as I have several times mentioned. This bill increases the government's power to have railway companies correct irritants and risk factors with respect to safety and the environment.
We saw a problem, however, when there was a need to improve the safety of level crossings within a municipality. We introduced an amendment at report stage. It read as follows:
That Bill C-58, in Clause 19, be amended by adding after line 7 on page 12 the following:
“Section 24 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):
(3) A railway company that operates a line of railway shall reimburse a provincial government, city or municipality for expenses incurred by the provincial government, city or municipality, as the case may be, in respect of the line of railway for the purpose of complying with a regulation made under subsection (1).”
In a fourth paragraph, we said:
(4) For greater certainty, subsection (3) does not limit the scope of subsection (2) with respect to a provincial government, city or municipality.
That was the amendment we introduced at report stage.
It must be pointed out, unfortunately, that, true to form, the government has not made use of the solutions or constructive suggestions offered by the opposition and has decided to do things its own way. What we were suggesting were not mere whims, but reflected our desire to reflect the reality of numerous municipalities in Quebec and in Canada, and their ability to pay.
In this connection, I will read a letter over the signature of Mr. Pierre Gaudet, mayor of Aston Junction in the riding of Richelieu. Mayor Gaudet wrote to his MP, my colleague for Richelieu, a most hardworking, serious and conscientious man, who referred the matter to me. Together we discussed the matter and raised it within our party caucus. This is the reason we decided to move an amendment to Bill C-58.
Mayor Gaudet wrote in his letter to his MP:
Sir:
Under this order-in-council, the municipality of Aston Junction now has financial and road maintenance responsibility for the Vigneault Street level crossing.
Referring to order-in-council 1998/R402 of July 15, 1998.
Since 1993, the municipality has been objecting to this responsibility. Now, without our consent, we have become responsible for this level crossing.
We are calling upon your assistance in freeing us of this responsibility. For our small municipality—
I should point out that Aston Junction is not the city of Montreal, Longueuil or Brossard, with their rich property tax base. The same goes for Saint-Lambert. I do not have exact population figures, but—still quoting the mayor—Aston Junction is a “small” municipality.
Resuming the letter:
For our small municipality, such a responsibility represents a very high annual investment, since our role was to pay without any right of review of CN's projected expenditures. We cannot afford such an expense over the long term.
In order to familiarize you with this matter, we enclose a copy of the order-in-council and of the resolution passed by the municipality.
What I want to illustrate with my comments on this is that, concretely, when safety improvements are involved, relating to a railway line which passes through a municipality—trains being unlike planes, this cuts the road in half to let the train pass—it is normal, logical, reasonable for the one responsible for blocking the road traffic to pay for improving the safety of level crossings.
I have tried to raise your awareness of the reasonable character of this, but let us look at the ability of CN and CP to pay. First of all, CN. We are aware of the context in which the Liberal government privatized CN. With passage of the act to privatize CN, something occurred that has never been seen anywhere else in the world. When CN was privatized, it was given the lines as well. In Canada, the railway was an instrument of east-west development. The rail lines, the rights-of-way, were paid for by the taxpayers of Quebec and of Canada.
I remember very clearly what I had to say in 1994-95 in the House: that the government ought not to hand over the rail lines to the newly privatized CN, headed by that same Paul Tellier who, we will remember, received $350,000 when president of a non-privatized CN, then a crown corporation. He got an interest-free loan of $350,000 to purchase a house in Westmount, and then the same Paul Tellier, CN's president, benefited from unbelievable treatment at the time of privatization.
I maintain that the government made a mistake in handing over the railway rights-of-way when it privatized the railway. Today this means that the passenger trains are at the mercy of the freight trains.
This means passengers having to wait two or two and a half hours in the middle of a field in Kamouraska or Mont-Joli, because trains carrying Volvos from Halifax are arriving. There are trains carrying rolls of newsprint. There are trains carrying lumber that pass while passenger trains wait. That is what has been happening since the privatization of Canadian National and its newly acquired power over life and death on the rails.
I know the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport is listening to me, and I would remind him that, regarding the whole issue of the future of passenger rail service in Quebec and Canada, a sword of Damocles hangs over the two big companies, CN and CP. I hope the government will stand up.
I am happy the Standing Committee on Transport said, and that the Minister of Transport acknowledged, that freight companies should find ways to facilitate passenger rail service in Canada. There is a sword of Damocles over their heads.
I congratulate the government, but I hope it will stand up. But I hope the lobbies, the bagmen—and I did not say “Batman”, I said bagmen, those who carry bags of money for the Liberals' campaign fund—will this once stay in their place and that the government will respect passengers, because we are talking about the future of passenger transportation. We are talking about lines, about franchising Via Rail.
I see the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik is listening carefully to me. He is concerned about the sale of the Montreal-Senneterre line to a private company. My colleagues in the Gaspé are concerned about the Montreal-Gaspé and Montreal-Jonquière lines.
The government will have to give this serious thought. If CN had not been given incredible benefits and unwarranted conditions when it was privatized, we would not be at the mercy of these companies.
Our amendment proposes that small municipalities, and municipalities in general, taxpayers, those who live in small bungalows and pay astronomical municipal taxes because municipalities have had to absorb the costs of other levels of government, not have to pay. The large companies should pay for the cost of making railways safe.
I would also like to congratulate the government in another connection—and I think that is part of our role as a reasonable and responsible opposition. When the government falls short, we stand up and say so, but when it makes an interesting proposal, as it does in this bill, I have no trouble congratulating it.
That is why we were elected. We are trying to fulfil our responsibilities as best we can. When the government does something well, we say so. When it falls short, we would like the government to listen to what we have to say more often, but unfortunately we do not always get our wish.
On several occasions my colleagues, the members for Rimouski—Mitis, Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup—Témiscouata—Les Basques, and Beauharnois—Salaberry have told me about the problems of whistles being blown at all hours of the day and night. I am happy to see that clause 18 of this bill amends section 23 by adding a section 23.1 that reads as follows:
23.1 No person shall use the whistle on any railway equipment in an area within a municipality if
(a) the area meets the requirements prescribed for the purposes of this section;
I am speaking here particularly to the elected municipal representatives listening to us this evening. I remember the years when I had the joy and pleasure of sitting on the municipal council of Boischatel, which is where I live. The first Monday of the month is always the public meeting, so they may be hearing the debates in replay. Still I am speaking to them most particularly.
It is set out in clause (b) I had started to read you that:
(b) the government of the municipality by resolution declares that it agrees that such whistles should not be used in that area and has, before passing the resolution, consulted the railway company that operates the relevant line of railway, notified each relevant association or organization, and given public notice of its intention to pass the resolution.
(2) The Minister may decide whether the area meets the prescribed requirements and the Minister's decision is final.
(3) Despite subsection (1), the whistle may be used if [...] there is an emergency
I think this is entirely reasonable.
The message I am sending municipal officials, members of the public and municipal councils is that a municipal council operates by means of regulations or resolutions. A municipal council may therefore, by resolution, regulate use of whistles. It is agreed that the municipal council will consult the railway company and, if agreement cannot be reached, that it may forward the matter to the minister, with supporting arguments.
Today, during Oral Question Period, there was a planted question from a Liberal member to the minister. I always find this amusing, and I think that those listening are anxious to see the Standing Orders amended so as to put an end to this masquerade. Opposition members do not plant questions. Ministers do not know in advance what our questions will be.
This is a serious waste of the House's time. There is so much work to be done, and each question period two or three questions come from members on the same side as the ministers. The member reads the question, the minister reads the response and turns the pages. This is a charade from another era that should have disappeared a long time ago.
I invite the parliamentary leaders of the various parties to have this system of planted questions stopped. Nobody believes it anyway. I hope everyone watching knows. When a Liberal member rises to put a question to a minister, the minister knows the question is coming and reads the response, which he had ahead of time.
Today, because Bill C-58 was to be debated tonight in the House, the minister had a question from the member for Cambridge, concerning whistles as a matter of fact.
In conclusion, I would like to say we support the principle behind the bill, because we all want to do the right thing, but there are some interesting provisions. However, we would have preferred that the government be more open-minded and accept our amendment to clause 19.1 on giving municipalities relief from major investments they cannot always afford and for which they are obliged to borrow and tax an already overtaxed public.
We would have liked the government to listen to us, but, despite everything, for all the reasons I have tried my best to enumerate, I must say that our party supports Bill C-58, which aims to increase railway safety.