Ottawa pushed to improve rail safety
A municipal lobby group is calling on federal politicians to fast-track several recommendations made by its members to improve railway safety across Canada following the deadly derailment in Lac Megantic and a near disaster in Calgary.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities wants Ottawa to adopt three priorities identified by its Rail Safety Working Group: equipping and supporting municipal first responders, ensuring federal and industry policies and regulations address safety concerns, and ensuring local taxpayers don’t shoulder safety and emergency costs.
“We agree that it’s important for our economy ... 70 per cent of our export goes through the rail system,” FCM president Claude Dauphin said. “But at the same time we need to make sure the rail system is safe.
“This bears a cost of course,” Dauphin added. “But is it the federal government that will pay? Is it the industry that will pay? One thing is sure, it won’t be the local government that will pay.”
While the federation and the railway industry have discussed several issues over the years, such as railway proximity to residential areas, the organization’s concerns over safety issues have seemingly fallen on deaf ears, Dauphin said.
But the Lac Megantic disaster, in which a train derailment and explosion levelled several blocks and killed 47 people in the small Quebec town, brought railway safety to the forefront of national discourse this summer. An incident in Calgary — where several train cars filled with a flammable petroleum product nearly toppled into the Bow River — also raised concerns.
Municipal politicians across Canada became increasingly vocal following the two incidents, demanding the federal government introduce new safety rules for railways.
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi blasted Canadian Pacific Railway officials after the June 28 incident in Calgary for not properly inspecting the Bonnybrook Bridge following the June flood.
The mayor’s office said Nenshi was unavailable for comment Friday.
Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra, whose Ward 9 riding includes the Bonnybrook Bridge and CPR’s Aylth Rail Yard, said it’s critical the gulf between the industry and municipalities be bridged as railways become increasingly important in “maintaining the connectivity and the commerce that drives our nation.”
“We have a very historically fraught relationship that needs to be rebooted, retooled and reworked so that we can actually move forward in a productive way,” he said.
“That’s going to require big, tectonic shifts in legislation, and it’s also going to require old-school relationship building at the local level.”
Deepak Obhrai, MP for Calgary East, said while he agrees with the recommendations made by the FCM, it’s critical that any new regulations be clear cut and uniform.
“That is where the federal government should play a very active role,” said Ohbrai. “We do not want all municipalities having different regulations within their own areas. It would be impossible for the industry to work.”
He said addressing railway safety is a priority for the Conservative government, though he would not provide a timeline for any new regulations to come into effect.