The Conservatives aren’t doing enough for railway safety

Committee report leaves out essential recommendations

The NDP is 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 today.

After initially rejecting the NDP’s request, the parliamentary committee finally chose to carry out an investigation into the transportation of dangerous goods and railway safety management systems shortly after the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.

“The Conservatives threw out several essential expert recommendations. Of course, these could have helped improve public safety immediately. However, as far as I can tell, the government simply isn't doing enough,” said NDP Transport critic Hoang Mai (Brossard – La Prairie).

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, the NDP had called for an independent public inquiry into railway transportation of dangerous goods ” added Mai.