David McGuinty

[Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act, May 8th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech today.

For the benefit of the members in the House and the Canadians who are watching, I would like to present some simple facts and key points. I would like to share them with my colleague and see what he has to say.

We know from the 2012-13 public accounts that VIA Rail was cut by 15%, aviation safety was cut by 11%, marine safety was cut by 25%, road safety was cut by 5.5% and rail safety remained relatively constant. At the same time, we know that the Conservative federal government spends more on economic action plan ads than on rail safety.

Could my colleague comment on these cuts and explain the fundamental adverse effects they will have on safety in Canada?

[Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act, May 8th, 2014]

Absolutely, Mr. Speaker, and through you, nine in ten aviation inspectors in the minister's own department are now saying that her department's safety management system prevents the correction of safety problems in a timely fashion. Finally, two-thirds of the minister's own inspectors believe that Transport Canada's safety management system will actually increase the chances of a major aviation accident.

Can the minister tell us how the bill debated here today is going to address these issues?

[Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act, May 8th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends a number of existing statutes, and it does touch directly on aviation, marine safety, and so on.

I want to ask a question. Because we have walked through the door with respect to aviation issues, I want to ask the minister a question that I think she would rightly expect from the Liberal opposition here today.

It is about the recent survey of aviation inspectors who work for your department at Transport Canada. I want to know whether this bill has any bearing on what we have determined from your own inspectors on aviation.

Eighty-five percent of them believe that air travellers have been exposed to higher risks as a result of your government's policies; nine in ten of your own aviation inspectors—

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr.Chair, Canadians are finding out that crude oil shipped by rail in Canada has increased 32,000% since 2009. The Conservative government has known for eight years. I am absolutely certain that in the transition documents that were prepared for the minister's predecessor, the government was forewarned about this massive increase in the transportation of dangerous goods by rail. The present minister knows, and so does the Prime Minister, that in the next 10 years if every pipeline as proposed for our country is built and in full usage, there will be a million barrels per day of excess oil production in Canada. How is it going to be transported? It is going to be transported by rail.

Instead of taking the Auditor General's report, thanking him for his good work and sending him on his way, could the minister explain why there is no sense of urgency in the wake of the Lac-Mégantic tragedy? In the face of this massive increase in the transportation of dangerous goods, diluted bitumen by rail, why has there been no significant increase in expenditures for rail safety? We know from the public accounts of 2012-13, VIA Rail was cut 15%, aviation safety was cut 11%, marine safety was cut 25%, road safety was cut 5.5% and rail safety remained relatively constant.

I would remind Canadians before the minister responds that the government spends more money on economic action plans, obscene, self-promoting economic action plan advertisements, than it does on rail safety.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, what Canadians heard is that the minister is not responsible for this, and she has done absolutely nothing to lower costs to make our Canadian airports more competitive.

I would like to go back to rail safety, and I want to rely on the most objective document produced in the last two years in Canada, which is the report of the Auditor General, on rail safety. I want to review for Canadians a number of the Auditor General's key findings and conclusions.

First, the Auditor General and his team audited a three-year period at Transport Canada, which is this minister's department. She is the fifth minister in eight years, transiting through, I guess in terms of this cabinet, either up, down, or out.

However, the Auditor General's report on whether federal railways have actually implemented safety management systems states that “Transport Canada has yet to establish an audit approach that provides a minimum level of assurance that federal railways have done so”.

That is number one, which flies in the face of the minister's assertion that there are SMSs as a world-class system in place.

Two, on safety, the Auditor General says that Transport Canada does not have clear timelines. The report states: “We found that the work plans are vague in terms of timelines for monitoring progress on important safety issues”.

Three, critical information is not available at Transport Canada. It cannot deliver up risk assessments. It cannot give us information on the sections of track used in transporting dangerous goods; and I think of Lac-Mégantic. It cannot give us information on the condition of railway bridges. It cannot give us financial information of privately owned federal railways not publicly available.

The Auditor General then tells us that Transport Canada, in the three fiscal years that were audited, actually only performed 14 audits. That is 14 audits when they themselves said that only constituted 25% of the audits that they said had to be done in order to keep rail safe in this country. In fact, in that three-year period, VIA Rail, which carries four million passengers a year, was not audited once.

Not once.

I asked the minister earlier about qualified inspectors. In 2009, Transport Canada said that it needed 20 system auditors to audit each railway once every three years. How many were in place? There were only 10, half of what is required.

Next, the Auditor General tells us that Transport Canada does not know whether its current staff of inspectors have the required skills and competencies to do their jobs: “Inspectors and managers were not trained on a timely basis”.

The Auditor General says that they cannot even warrant that inspectors are objective and independent because they are coming from the private sector and mainly from federal railways.

This is a scathing indictment of the last eight years, and five ministers, on rail safety. However, when we listen to the minister speak, all is good with rail safety, apparently.

Can the minister explain to Canadians how it is possible that these findings are so serious that at committee, the Auditor General stated clearly that he is going to be adding another interim report to examine how much progress has been made under the current government.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

In fact, Mr. Chair, I guess it is so safe in Canada to fly that under the Conservative government, the Conference Board now concludes that Canadians are taking five million flights a year from the United States airports. That number is going up 10% to 15% each and every year under the Conservative administration. Canadians are driving to the United States and they are creating jobs and economic activity in U.S. airports.

What has the minister done to fix this?

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, just before the Lac-Mégantic derailment, the minister's department appointed a licensed airline pilot to act as the manager of enforcement of rail safety regulations, an airline pilot in the Quebec region. The new policy that allowed this to happen will also result in the appointment of enforcement managers for aviation safety who have no aviation background or knowledge whatsoever.

Could the minister explain how it is a good idea to place managers in charge of enforcing safety regulations in modes of transportation that they know absolutely nothing about?

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and forgive me. Nine in ten aviation inspectors who work at Transport Canada tell us that Transport Canada's safety management systems prevent the correction of safety problems in a timely fashion, up from 80% who worry this would be the case in the early days of the safety management system. Two-thirds of the minister's own inspectors are telling her that Transport Canada's safety management systems will actually increase the chances of a major aviation accident.

How should Canadians interpret this?

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, Madam Minister, you may assert that Canada is leading the world in terms of safety when it comes to transport, but let us actually look at what your own inspectors in your department are telling you.

I raised with you earlier the recent survey of aviation inspectors who work for Transport Canada. Nine in ten of those aviation inspectors in your department who work for you tell us that Transport Canada's safety management system--

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, if the minister wants safer communities and safer rail systems, why is her government spending more money on economic action plan advertising every year than on rail safety?