Transport committee  Okay.

Transport committee  I'm going to try to be as direct as I can. Firstly, there needs to be more public funding made available to municipalities. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has asked for the same. We have asked for the same. Safety is a shared responsibility. The railways certainly have made that commitment, but we're also looking for governments to make additional commitments to support those initiatives.

Transport committee  I'll begin, and then I'll turn it over to my colleague. First of all, I think Greg, in his opening remarks, pointed out that there are billions spent by the railways. In fact, if you go back to, I think, 1999, there's been 33 billion dollars' worth of investments put back into the rail infrastructure directly by CN and CP.

Transport committee  Thank you for your question, Ms. Koutrakis. I'll answer your question in English, because honestly, my recollection of everything that happened out west is in English. The supply chain disruptions in British Columbia and, in fact, in western Canada this past summer, as a result of raging forest fires and then the atmospheric rivers that we saw, really tested the railways.

Transport committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Barsalou-Duval. The first responders can use the AskRail mobile app, which provides information on hazardous materials transported by the trains. The information in question is quite confidential and is forwarded only to first responders who have completed the training provided by TRANSCAER, which is an awareness initiative offered to first responders.

Transport committee  More can certainly be done in terms of training. By providing proper training to as many first responders as possible, their capacity to respond directly to incidents would be strengthened. As for information sharing, there is in fact a security component that needs to be protected.

Transport committee  It's a tragedy that still affects us today. However, it gives us guidance too. Over 40 recommendations have been implemented since the tragedy. Industry stakeholders want to make safety an absolute priority. We have all kinds of programs that support this initiative and the recommendations that have been made.

Transport committee  They work with the municipalities and the urban developers to make sure the proximity guidelines are respected, to make sure there is enough distance between the railways and residences, and that any development and growth around railways is done safely so that we can minimize the risk of noise and trespassing incidents.

Transport committee  Representatives from CN and CP were not available to join us today, but I just want to note that they did appear in April of last year. We also attempted to appear in May. However, we had some technical difficulties and unfortunately could not present. We are pleased to be here to discuss what the railway industry as a whole is doing to help mitigate noise and disruption in communities we operate in.

Transport committee  We've not heard otherwise from our railway members to indicate that this is a major issue. Again, though, we're always looking to enhance how that data is shared and used. We have a working committee made up of the railways, TSB and Transport Canada, that's tackling those issues.

Transport committee  I'll leave that up to the working group, because that's part of what they do. They make sure that if there are any recommendations or any enhancements that can be brought forward, the committee would certainly have those discussions and then it would be presented to the minister for his follow-up and his action.

Transport committee  I don't believe we're working under any specific timelines. I can confirm that the committee is meeting regularly. There is ongoing dialogue at all times between the railways, Transport Canada, TSB, and the Canadian Transportation Agency. I can certainly provide assurance to the committee that the level of communication is very high on all issues related to rail safety, policy and the regulatory framework.

Transport committee  We actually have a rail safety data group that is working with TSB and Transport Canada to ensure that the methodology works in everyone's favour and is the right methodology to gather the information, and then to ensure that the information is interpreted and defined in the right way.

Transport committee  First responders already have access to this information. It is also available to any municipality that wants to have access to it. The only thing I would like to emphasize is that it is not to the advantage of the municipalities and the general public that this information be made public, for security reasons—

Transport committee  I think that any time we have additional partners, that will help us get the message out, communicate our videos and educate the general population about the importance of being safe around railway crossings and not to trespass. We're always looking for additional partners to help convey that message, so if there's anything that we can do with the federal government, municipalities, provincial governments....