Thank you, Chair, for this opportunity to appear before the committee today.

My name is Tom Oommen. I am the chief compliance and enforcement officer of the Canadian Transportation Agency.

The Canadian Transportation Agency was established in 1904 and is Canada's longest–standing independent, quasi–judicial tribunal and regulator. The members of the agency, including the chair and CEO, are appointed by the Governor in Council for fixed terms. The decisions of the agency are made by panels of members, which are established to deal with specific issues under consideration by the agency. The decisions of the agency are made independently of government. The members of the agency are supported by a staff of public servants, like myself, who assist the members in their decision–making role.

The agency, through its members, has statutory authority to make decisions on a wide range of matters in the transportation sector. For example, the agency makes certain regulations, issues licences to air carriers, issues the annual maximum revenue entitlement to CN and CP for the carriage of western grain for export, approves railway line construction and adjudicates complaints from passengers and shippers. Agency staff also monitor compliance with and enforce agency orders and the regulatory framework for which the agency is responsible.

A fundamental public interest role of the Canadian Transportation Agency is ensuring that railway companies in federal jurisdiction have the required liability insurance. Federally regulated railway companies must have a certificate of fitness issued by the agency under the Canada Transportation Act, as well as a railway operating certificate issued by Transport Canada under the Railway Safety Act. In order for the agency to issue a certificate of fitness to a railway company, the agency must be satisfied that the railway company holds the liability insurance required by the Canada Transportation Act.

The Canada Transportation Act requires that freight railways hold specific amounts of liability insurance depending on what they carry. The highest tier of liability insurance is required by those railways that carry over 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year, or over 50,000 tonnes of toxic inhalation hazard per year. These railway companies are required to hold liability insurance of $1 billion per incident. The railway companies' liability does not depend on proof of fault or negligence. If more than one railway is involved in a railway accident, they jointly and severally bear the liability, up to the amount of insurance that they are required to hold.

In order to maintain their certificates of fitness, each year a railway company files a number of documents with the agency, including a certificate of insurance. This documentation states the forecasted amount of crude oil and toxic inhalation hazards to be carried by the railway company. It lists the insurance policies that the railway company holds, up to the required amount. Following submission, there's a careful review of the documentation. The agency would suspend or cancel a certificate of fitness if the liability insurance requirements are not met.

Just before closing, I will also mention one additional role for the agency. In June 2015, the Railway Safety Act was amended to allow a provincial or municipal government to apply to the agency to recover costs reasonably incurred in responding to fires resulting from railway operations. If the agency determines that a fire was the result of railway operations, it will then decide the costs that were reasonably incurred by the relevant authority in responding to the fire.

Thank you, Chair. That concludes my opening remarks.

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