Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to some of the comments my colleague made. We sit together on committee. I want to remind Canadians about a few things in the bill and the context within which it is situated.
The first context, and the first important point to remind Canadians of, is that on April 23 at committee, I asked the minister 10 consecutive times to come clean with Canadians with respect to the budget at Transport Canada in the estimates this year. Now the member will get up and say that those are not the real numbers, that the Conservatives rely on what the officials say. However, the reality is that the government calls the shots, and everybody knows it. Departments are allocated their resources, and everybody knows it.
Point one is that the budget at Transport Canada was cut 11% percent this year, or $202 million. Canadians should remember that when the Conservative government talks about rail safety. That is 11% in one department. More money was spent last year, $42 million, on economic action plan advertising, with $33 million on rail safety. That is point number one to remember.
Point two is that the bill was rushed through committee. It was a Conservative-dominated committee with two meetings. Here is what the major witnesses said when I asked if they were consulted.
Phil Benson, Teamsters, said, “As far as I know, not at all”.
Robert Taylor, CP, said, “We got an answer when we saw the legislation”.
James Beardsley, Marsh Canada, said, “the answer I got was that it was not made available to them”, which is the briefing he provided.
Could the member explain those two points please? How does he expect people to do better with rail safety when the budget has been slashed 11%. Also, the top sectors in the country were not consulted.