Corrections and confusion from the Conservatives on Lac-Mégantic

On July 8, 2013, Minister of Transport Denis Lebel clearly said:

“We do know that a Transport Canada inspector inspected the locomotive involved in this incident just the day before it happened, on July 5, and found no deficiencies.”

But when pressed yesterday by reporters, the following exchange took place between a reporter and a Transport Canada official:

Reporter: Am I correct in understanding that you said that when the train was inspected on July 5th, the wagons were in a siding and therefore the locomotives weren’t inspected—is that what you said?

Transport Canada official: No, the way that this train originated as a Canadian Pacific train it came from North Dakota to Saint-Luc here in Montreal. Okay. So when the train came in it probably had a CP locomotive on this train, then the train was picked up by M.M.A. When we had inspectors out there, what was in the yard was those 73 cars. So he made an inspection of those 73 cars.

Reporter: Because Mr. Lebel said yesterday, in both English and French, that the inspectors inspected the locomotive.

Transport Canada official: I would have to double-check that information. That I don't have with me for the locomotive inspection, only the cars I know.

Following this press conference, Transport Canada issued a “correction” to the Minister’s original July 8 statement—that only the train’s cars were inspected on July 5, not the locomotive. This is the re-draft of Minister Lebel’s original statement:

_“__we do know that a Transport Canada inspector inspected the **train cars** involved in this incident just the day before it happened, on July 5, and found no deficiencies.”_

As it stands, neither the Minister nor his officials have revealed when the locomotive involved in this tragedy had last been inspected.