Transport committee  It's been there from the outset. It's not a new provision.

Transport committee  Madam Chair, I would add that we have an annual report that will be published later on this year, with all that data and statistics in it. It may be worthwhile just waiting until then, if that's agreeable.

Transport committee  We'd be more than happy to accommodate.

Transport committee  In terms of railway crossings, we do publish a guideline that's updated annually that provides a breakdown between municipalities, provinces, and railway companies. That has been very useful in keeping the disputes out of the agency and having the parties come to an agreement.

Transport committee  No.

Transport committee  I should have elaborated on that, as opposed to just saying no. It has to do with the fact that we have an opportunity through our annual report to provide our advice to the minister. That's the route the agency typically takes.

Transport committee  Part and parcel of what we do is under the Canada Transportation Act. There is a common carrier provision, and it's our responsibility to ensure that the railways comply with that provision.

Transport committee  It's the province, the municipality, primarily, and the railway company itself.

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  They're available online as well.

Transport committee  If I can add, Fred, it's also consistent regularly with our mandate because they're operationally driven as opposed to there's been no policy authority or anything like that. It's strictly been operational, which is consistent with what we do.

Transport committee  I can give you a little perspective on the take-up of interswitching. Our first full year that we have data for is 2015. We have a little bit of data for 2014, but the measure was only in place for six months, so 2015 is our marker. We'll probably have 2016 this time next year to compare.

Transport committee  In terms of interswitching, as I'm sure you're aware, we have to by law review the interswitching regulations once every five years. As part of our assessment of going from the 30 to the 160, that was the last time that the rate was set, specifically for zone 5 because we did not have a rate for zone 5.

Transport committee  Anecdotally we've heard from shippers and carriers that reviewing or revising rates only every five years may not be the best practice when you're taking a look at a market-based economy. The transactions are driven by price; that's part of the price determination. In that respect, you would have to balance doing it more often against the benefit, because sometimes there are not great changes year over year, and to put the resources into something that doesn't particularly change would, number one, have to be reviewed.

Transport committee  If you look at section 5 of the Canada Transportation Act, in large measure, decades ago, decisions were made to privatize the transportation system in general. Section 5 is consistent with that; let the market work. In instances where we have market failure or the market doesn't work, there's perhaps a monopoly situation created, which creates an inefficiency in the system.