Mr. Speaker, much to my surprise, the reality is that when there was an issue in my riding at a railway crossing I was incredulous to find that the minister did not have the power nor did her railway inspectors to solve the problem and to stop any accidents from happening.
Previously, it was a cumbersome process. This will expedite things. Through my consultations in the development of this bill I am very pleased to acknowledge in this House of Commons that the rail companies that I spoke with are very supportive of increased rail safety. The Teamsters union, which represents a great number of people who work for rail companies, is interested in supporting this bill. Certainly, the minister was very interested when I presented this because currently there is no remedy under our Rail Safety Act for her to shut down an unsafe situation. I have actually had a number of unsafe situations at rail crossings in my riding. This is a question that mattered greatly to my constituency and I am thrilled to hear from not only my colleague on this side but my colleague on the other side of the House that there will be support in general for this bill. It matters that we keep people in our communities safe.