Lisa Raitt

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the question. I do not have that information.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, this is an issue that has come up in both the United States and in Canada. Indeed, it is an issue in the U.K. as well.

It is an expensive process to implement that across 46,000 kilometres of track. It is something that Transport Canada is considering, and we continue to work on the matter. We are aware of what the Transportation Safety Board has indicated, and we are still analyzing all the issues around this.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, we thank the Transportation Safety Board for its report on the tragedy that happened in the riding that is actually adjacent to mine.

Excessive speed was the cause of the accident.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, it was not specifically to do with rail regulations. That portion of the act is there predominantly to deal with motor vehicle regulation changes.

The reality is that in terms of the United States and harmonization, sometimes the U.S. can move forward quickly in regulations while we cannot move forward as quickly.

This is one of the acts in which it is mandatory to go to Canada Gazette part I. All we are saying in this case is that instead of mandatorily going to the Gazette part I, we would seek permission from the Treasury Board, after giving analysis and reasoning, not to go through that process and to proceed directly to the Gazette part II. There would still be oversight on that decision.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, as the former minister of labour and current Minister of Transport, I have had this discussion with the Teamsters.

I think it is a valid concern in fatigue management to ensure that science is utilized to make sure that we have appropriate systems in place and, as always, I encourage the Teamsters to work with their management to ensure that they are doing all that they can.

For our part, in terms of Transport Canada, we already have regulations in place for hours of duty.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

I understand your question was about fatigue and its role in safety management systems. I also indicated that it is a role that is taken very seriously by the Teamsters. I have met with the Teamsters on this issue of fatigue. I know they work with their companies on the matter as well.

With respect to the specific numbers of the Transportation Safety Board and how many are associated with fatigue, I would have to take a look at the full listing of them in order to give that specific information, but I am pretty sure you have an idea of what the number is and I am sure you will tell me it now.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, with respect to safety management systems, they are already currently in place in four railways. These things are taken into consideration. That is something that the Teamsters or Unifor would be working on with their individual companies, depending upon which company it is.

The safety management system is not just one system. It is about taking a corporate culture and ensuring that we incorporate safety into every aspect of it. That is the route we have taken in Canada in safety management systems, because simply put, we have 46,000 kilometres of track in the country and we simply cannot have individual inspectors for every piece of track. That is why safety management systems are important, and they are clearly the more professional and the correct way to go.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, with respect to the metrics the hon. member is attempting to lead me down, I can say that all of our efforts at Transport Canada with respect to the safety file are about ensuring that Canadians and communities are protected. In doing so, we are making sure that on the one hand we are not moving forward so quickly so that it cannot catch up, but on the other hand we are moving forward quickly enough so that we are protecting citizens.

A great example of that is taking the very principled and strong position that DOT-111 cars for ethanol and crude oil will be phased out over the next three years, something that is not happening in the United States.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, the way in which we are dealing with the recommendations from the Transportation Safety Board includes strong action regarding the means of containment of crude oil, protective directions under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, making sure that we have ERAPS in place, and ensuring that they are taking a look at some of the key operations.

Let us be very clear: in general, the system is safe. A terrible derailment happened in Lac-Mégantic, a terrible incident, but in general the system is safe, and 99.997% of the time dangerous goods make it to their destination. We want to strengthen railway safety and ensure that it continues in a positive way, and we want to make the system safer because we can always do better.

We should not be starting from the premise that the opposition is indicating, which is that this is unsafe, because it is not unsafe. I will come back and quote what his own members have said about the safety of this railway system, and it is completely irresponsible to say it is unsafe.

[Business of Supply, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Chair, one of the recommendations from the Transportation Safety Board was to require emergency response assistance plans. We are doing so for even a single tank car carrying crude oil, gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel, or ethanol.

In developing those, industry will be working together with first responders on these plans. They have 150 days to submit them to Transport Canada, but as well, there will be a key committee that will be working together on this specific matter. This information is for the purposes associated with first responders so that they can have the ability to get the information they need in a timely fashion. How it will be disseminated will be something that the committee will discuss.