Mr. Speaker, during question period on October 3, I asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport about a statement by the president of Canadian Pacific concerning rail safety, particularly in relation to the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.
We were outraged to hear the comments by Hunter Harrison, the president and CEO of Canadian Pacific, who believes that regulatory agencies overreacted to the rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic. He said that the accident was the fault of one negligent person who did not apply the brakes properly and that regulations would not stop that type of behaviour.
Many aspects of his comments are disturbing. First, we must not forget that 47 innocent people died in this rail disaster. Forty-seven people. In addition, six million litres of crude oil were spilled. The families of the victims, the people of Lac-Mégantic and all Canadians deserve to be safe when close to railways. It is not just necessary that we thoroughly examine rail safety regulations, it is crucial.
Second, in its most recent report, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada highlighted the shared responsibility for this tragedy. The Conservative government did not do its job, namely, properly monitoring the offending companies, like MMA, on Canadian soil. It was also recognized that Transport Canada was not conducting audits of rail companies frequently enough or thoroughly enough.
Wendy Tadros, the chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, stated:
Accidents never come down to a single individual, a single action or a single factor. You have to look at the whole context. In our investigation, we found 18 factors played a role in this accident.
Eighteen factors—not just one person, as the president of Canadian Pacific claimed.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport stubbornly continues to place all the blame on MMA. It is not worthy of the Canadians who have mandated us to protect them through regulations and legislation. In this case, the coroner and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada came to the same conclusion: the government did not meet its obligation to protect the public.
The role of the government is to ensure that companies follow the rules, that the rules are adequate and that there is comprehensive monitoring. If the Conservative government does not want to do that, then we will do it in 2015.
We know that Lac-Mégantic is not the only municipality where a rail accident occurred. Right now, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is conducting 18 investigations into derailments and collisions that occurred in 2013 and 2014 alone.
Increasing amounts of crude oil are going to be moving across the country. Unlike what Mr. Harrison thinks, we need more regulations and we need to ensure that private companies comply with Canada's laws and regulations to improve safety regarding the transportation of hazardous materials.
Is the Conservative government going to accept such statements from companies operating in Canada? Is the government going to strengthen regulations and monitoring in order to keep Canadian families who live near railway lines safe?