Mr. Speaker, five years have passed since 47 people were killed in Lac-Mégantic, but rail transportation is no safer now than it was then.
Ever since the Conservatives were in power, Ottawa has allowed transportation companies to regulate themselves, and the Liberals have been content with that state of affairs. Companies are making all the decisions, not government.
They decide what constitutes wear, they inspect the rails, they decide what to transport through communities, and they decide how fast their cars go and how much weight they carry. They can do whatever they want. As a result, there have been not fewer accidents since the Lac-Mégantic tragedy, but more. Ottawa is to blame because it is ignoring its responsibilities.
That is why the Bloc Québécois is calling for an inquiry into the serious problems with rail transportation regulation.