Mr. Speaker, the discussion I am initiating tonight arises from a question I asked the Prime Minister before Christmas, a question about government responses to a series of sulphuric acid spills on the roads in and around Trail, British Columbia.
Teck Resources operates a very large smelter in Trail, one of the largest lead-zinc smelters in the world. One of the by-products of that operation is sulphuric acid, which it sells to the U.S. It has to be transported from the smelter. It is trucked to a nearby rail siding about 16 kilometres away to be put on trains. Until recently, that trucking was done by Westcan Bulk Transport.
On April 10, 2018, about 220 litres of sulphuric acid leaked onto southbound Highway 3B from the intersection of Highways 22 and 3B to the Quirk Siding Reload Centre in Waneta, about 16 kilometres away. Emergency responders were on the scene at 9:30 and cleanup was completed by 2 p.m.
On May 23, about 70 litres of sulphuric acid leaked onto much the same area, but a shorter distance, only about six kilometres. Emergency responders were on the scene at 8 p.m. and had cleaned it up by 11:15.
Following this spill, Westcan Bulk Transport was suspended as the transporter and Trimac Transportation took over transporting the acid. According to Westcan Group of Companies, initial findings indicated the cause was a gasket failure on the trailer unit and was unrelated to the release that occurred on April 10.
There was a very minor spill on September 22, where only about one cup of acid leaked at the reload centre and that was not very significant. The other two spills were very significant.
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia reported it had received about 4,200 claims from drivers whose cars were damaged in the April and May acid spills. Over 400 vehicles were written off, including the regional district's main fire truck, a brand new fire truck worth about $1 million, and a fire command vehicle. On October 10, ICBC filed a notice of civil claim to recover the amounts paid out and it listed, as part of the negligent parties, the trucking company and drivers, International Raw Materials, Teck Resources and the regional district, the City of Trail and the Province of B.C.
The regional district and the fire department have a number of concerns. They are obviously concerned about being listed in this litigation, and they are obviously concerned about the loss of their trucks. They are concerned about how far away the nearest Transport Canada office is. They have the following questions for Transport Canada: Is Transport Canada investigating these acid spills in Trail? What enforcement actions have they taken in regard to the spills? Why was the first and largest spill not even reported to Transport Canada?
Finally, they have heard that provincial staff that do commercial inspections relating to dangerous goods have been cut back through attrition and that part of this cutback relates to reduced federal funding. They would like to know what the plan is to assist communities that need this level of expertise when transportation of dangerous goods incidents happen in their communities.