Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today to Bill C-58, which deals with railway safety.
The government has particular responsibility for ensuring transportation safety. In the past, decisions were not necessarily taken with full consideration to the importance of safety. I will give the example of the creation of Nav Canada.
Nav Canada is the body which has taken over responsibility for air traffic, and which at a certain point pits profitability against the assurance of proper airport security and safety. We see this in all that is going on concerning negotiations on airport control towers.
In this case, where rail safety is concerned, the bill is satisfactory as far as the Bloc Quebecois is concerned. It is a bill which modernizes the issue of railway safety. It is a bill which simplifies a certain number of actions in an interesting manner, and it must be acknowledged that it is the result of work in committee coupled with approval by the government.
It is also interesting that, when railroad safety is properly organized, it makes rail travel even more interesting, and in a way gives the environment of Quebec and of Canada a chance, because train travel is a means of transportation which protects the environment far better than many others.
From that point of view, then, this is worthwhile. It is important that this be done properly, because we are in a period of major change in the rail sector, a context of privatization. I do not think that we need to decide between the pertinence of privatization and railway safety. When making decisions on this, safety is paramount, because when private companies are involved, responsibility for safety takes on the legal framework given to it by the government.
As the private sector intervenes increasingly in the railway sector, it needs solid and proper guidelines to ensure the safety of both those who ride the train and those who use it as a means of transporting equipment.
In recent years, short line railways have sprung up. These rail lines give new life to the network. For example, in our region, between Matane and Rivière-du-Loup, the Société des chemins de fer du Québec bought a rail line from the CN. This local company will develop this section of line, possibly providing a link-up with ports and other means of transportation. These short line railways must operate in accordance with adequate safety rules.
Things have happened in the past, for example in Mont-Joli, a railway junction, proving the need for clear and compelling regulations for both businesses and other stakeholders.
The other thing is that Via Rail is soon going to be franchised. This will have an effect on safety too, because it carries people. How will they organize in the event of accidents?
So this bill had to be considered taking account of all these new railway market conditions.
There were some very good provisions in this bill, but improvements that could have been made were not accepted. I would like to return to an amendment that was proposed by the Bloc Quebecois, by the member for Argenteuil—Papineau acting on behalf of the member for Beauport—Montmorency— Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d'Orléans, to ensure that municipalities facing financial hardship occasioned by the cost of maintaining level crossings be given proper financing terms.
Not all municipalities can afford what it costs to upgrade level crossings and introduce appropriate safety measures. That is why the Bloc Quebecois proposed an amendment.
The amendment was set out in the letter sent by the member for Beauport—Montmorency— Côte-de-Beaupré—Île-d'Orléans to Pierre Gaudet, the mayor of Aston Junction, on January 18, 1999. The letter reads as follows:
The Bloc Quebecois recently proposed an amendment to the legislation that would provide a solution by requiring railway companies to assume the costs of maintaining their lines. After all, it is only fair that a company maintain what it owns.
This amendment indicated, I feel, a willingness to assign responsibilities appropriately and to see that negotiations between municipalities and railway companies were on an even footing. When a municipality of 500 or 1,000 people comes up against CN in this sort of negotiation, the parties are not always fairly matched. It would have been interesting to see the company's responsibility spelled out clearly.
This was not done, but that is no reason to scrap the bill. It would have been an interesting improvement for all small municipalities in Quebec and in Canada.
In fact, this bill will modernize safety in our railway sector. I would have liked to see provision made for experiments, such as giving passenger trains priority over freight trains on certain lines at particular times of the day, or setting aside certain lines for passenger trains rather than freight trains, and including this in the bill as interesting experiments. If they were included in the bill, companies would not be liable and this would have facilitated the introduction of new approaches.
The particular issue I am going to address concerns municipalities in my riding. By way of example, Saint-Philippe-de-Néri, a small municipality in my riding, and Trois-Pistoles, a small city that is important in cultural terms and because of its impact but that is part of a region. I give Saint-Philippe-de-Néri as an example, because it is particularly relevant. This municipality took steps to have enough barriers to ensure safety. This way it could put an end to the famous whistle that bothered people at night.
There are some interesting legislative provisions in this regard. Now, with a resolution by the municipality, in accordance with the regulations, the whistle will be heard no more. This is much simpler than before. So there has been a gain in terms of the bill.
The problem is that, as in the other example I gave earlier, the financial responsibility for the studies required is not clearly established. Specifically, Saint-Philippe-de-Néri was presented with a bill for $2,500 by Canadian National for a feasibility study to put the appropriate security measures in place.
For Canadian National, with the profits it makes, $2,500 is not an astronomical figure. But for a rural municipality, it can be pretty significant.
I approached the minister on this. I think he lent me an attentive ear. The minister's response today to the question by the Liberal member seemed to confirm this. I hope that the companies will take steps to assume the costs when they are responsible.
In a case like this one, I hope Canadian National will return the money it demanded in order to have the change in place before the bill passed. The bill was not passed, but changes were coming and Canadian National could have taken them into account before billing the municipality. That would have been interesting. It would have been a good gesture on the part of Canadian National as a show of social responsibility. Something we did not see in the past with the job cuts.
This is a concrete example to help, with a little ad hoc financial assistance, a number of municipalities to have changes made to improve the quality of life of those living beside the railway. At the same time, an appropriate safety system would be in place.
Now municipalities would have a way of making changes simply, under the law, without being hampered by the size of the cheque they might get from CN or any other company owning the railway. That would be important.
In my riding, there are a number of municipalities from La Pocatière to Saint-Simon that are crossed by a rail line.
Some will be wanting to take advantage of this possibility, when they see that the bill makes it possible. They will perhaps be stopped by the size of the bill that will be run up if CN maintains the same position it has to date.
In summary, then, the Bloc Quebecois is pleased to vote in favour of this bill. Once again, this is proof that, when a constructive bill is at stake, we are capable of going along with the government position. In our first mandate from 1993 to 1997 the Bloc was the party that voted most often with the government.
On the other hand, when things runs contrary to the interests of our constituents, we are capable of showing that too. We did so with Nav Canada. Unfortunately, the reality is that these are two different cases, seeing what is going on with airport security and safety, and particularly the pressure that is being brought to bear on this body to ensure cost-effectiveness by such actions as cutting back on the number of control towers across the country.
Where air travel is concerned, we would have liked to have seen a result similar to what we have before us today. Is the difference there because railway safety has been around a long time? It is hard to know why, but we would have liked to see the government taking the same attitude to both.
Let us hope that the bill is passed and that ultimately there are fewer obstacles to the safety of passengers and goods transported by rail, that this is achieved as simply as possible and, as I was saying earlier, with the co-operation of the companies, so that now that the administrative obstacles have been removed, we are not impeded by unacceptable costs to municipalities.
Let us see what this bill will make possible in the years to come and, if in a few years improvements are required, let us hope that the government has the wisdom to agree to the necessary amendments.