No further charges are expected in Lac-Mégantic

Residents were hoping courts would go after rail executive

LAC-MÉGANTIC, QUE.— The Crown is ruling out further charges in the Lac-Mégantic train disaster, a statement that appears to leave U.S. rail executive Ed Burkhardt off the hook.

Asked particularly about Burkhardt, a spokesman for the Quebec prosecutor’s office stated that no other charges will be laid against anyone.

Jean-Pascal Boucher made the comment Thursday after a judge scheduled a preliminary hearing on Jan. 15 for three railway employees already facing serious criminal charges in the deadly crash.

Burkhardt was chair of the railway at the centre of the July 2013 catastrophe that destroyed part of the Quebec town.

Many Lac-Mégantic residents have called for criminal charges to be laid against Burkhardt.

Train engineer Tom Harding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, the manager of train operations, each face 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death. That is the number of people who died in the tragedy.

The three accused were arraigned in Lac-Mégantic last May and a conviction carries a maximum life sentence.

Several locals who watched the suspects enter the courtroom in May said they hoped authorities would eventually lay charges against government and railway officials, including Burkhardt. At the time, the Crown said prosecutors could lay more charges because the file was still under examination.

On Thursday, the Crown handed over a second batch of evidence to defence lawyers and indicated they will share more in mid-December, said Tom Walsh, Harding’s lawyer. The union and l awyers representing Harding and Labrie recently urged the Crown to drop the charges in light of findings by the Transportation Safety Board. Demaitre is not unionized.

They said prosecutors should reevaluate the case following the release of a TSB report that criticized the rail company, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway, for its “weak safety culture.”

The report also targeted Transport Canada for its poor oversight of the industry.