Canadians have made it clear. It is time for the strongest possible action on rail safety.
That is why we are so disappointed with the Transport Committee’s decision to throw out essential expert recommendations in its report on the review of the Canadian Transportation Safety Regime that was tabled in the House of Commons recently.
The parliamentary committee finally conducted an investigation into the transportation of dangerous goods and railway safety management systems shortly after the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.
The Harper government threw out several essential expert recommendations. These could have helped improve public safety immediately.
The federal government needs to provide a rigorous framework for the transportation of dangerous goods in Canada and ensure that more inspections, along with random and periodic checks, be carried out on the basis of risk.
Railway companies should also carry out an evaluation of train routes and risk and make the results public to ensure that we are mitigating the danger to Canadians.
However, none of these analyses were carried out.
To solve the many unanswered questions and gain a better understanding of the causes behind the Lac-Mégantic catastrophe, we have called for an independent public inquiry into railway transportation of dangerous goods.
