Mr. Speaker, in October, a report by the CBC's The Fifth Estate revealed an eight-year-old study by the Department of Transport that was not made public. That study contradicted previous Ministry of Transport statements that no evidence was available that pointed to seat belts improving the overall level of safety on school buses. How many injuries and child deaths could have been prevented across Canada in the past decade had school buses been equipped with seat belts as a result of that buried report?
Since 1999, 16 students have been killed in school bus accidents in Ontario alone, and more than 6,000 have been injured. We will probably never know whether mandatory seat belts on the bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos would have made a difference that tragic day in April last year, or whether the deaths of three and injury of 23 public transit users in Ottawa could have been prevented had seat belts been mandatory on January 11 when a double-decker bus carrying commuters crashed into the Westboro transit station.
On January 21, the minister announced a task force investigating seat belts on buses. CBC reported that Transport Canada stated, for the first time on its website in a posting December 21, that seat belts, when worn properly, do offer added protection for school-aged children.
Transport Canada has decreed that all large and medium highway buses must have seatbelts by September 1, 2020. In announcing the change, the transport minister said, “By having seat belts on highway buses, we can help reduce injuries in severe collisions, such as rollovers, and improve safety for everyone.”
The federal government has the authority to mandate seat belts on all new school buses without needing provincial approval. For existing school buses, the minister has stated that he will require more consultations with the provinces to determine the source of money to retrofit school buses to provide seat belts. It seems that the minister and his department have no questions about whether or not seat belts save lives; the only question is who should pay for the retrofits.
The facts speak for themselves. After all, if it is mandatory for a bus driver to wear a seat belt for safety reasons, why would it be any less dangerous to fail to require seat belts for the passengers that the driver carries? A delay on this makes no sense at all. Why would the minister require another review when the report that was buried eight years ago determined that school buses without seat belts failed safety tests?
The government has plenty of money when it comes to paying $1 billion more than the actual value of a leaky pipeline, or when it comes to ignoring billions in lost revenues in its refusal to close tax loopholes for the richest Canadians and corporations that hide their excessive income in offshore accounts. The government conducted bogus consultations on electoral reform when it had no intention of keeping that election promise, and it continues to demand pointless consultations on pay equity for women.
With every day that goes by without action by the Minister of Transport, more and more Canadian lives are at risk when the solution is simple and evident: Make seat belts mandatory on buses. It is time for action on the part of the minister, not more studies, task forces and obfuscation.