Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be me, Aaron McCrorie.

On behalf of my colleagues Ben Turcotte and Mike DeJong, it's a pleasure to be here this evening. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, our colleague Jasmir Basi was not able to join today and she sends her regrets.

Today, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on our work to ensure rail safety in Canada and share a brief status update on our efforts to implement the Auditor General's recommendations from the follow-up audit on rail safety, as well as the recommendations from the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development's follow-up audit on the transportation of dangerous goods.

Every day railway companies carry goods, including dangerous goods, across the country that are essential to our well-being, the creation of jobs and economic growth. For example, rail transportation ensures that prairie grain gets to export markets, consumer goods get to Canadian households, and communities get chlorine to ensure safe drinking water or propane for heating and fuel. Transport Canada is committed to ensuring the safe and secure movement of these goods by rail, especially dangerous goods.

An effective safety program is built around multiple lines of defence, with each component enhancing and complementing the other. Transport Canada has a comprehensive safety strategy in place to prevent and minimize the impacts of rail accidents and to effectively respond to incidents involving dangerous goods. Transport Canada prescribes stringent safety requirements for railway operations and to transport dangerous goods by rail. For example, all federal railways operating in Canada are required to ensure that dangerous goods are transported in the appropriate means of containment, such as the new more robust tank cars required for flammable liquids; comply with the key trains and key routes rule, which sets out slower track speeds and increased track inspection requirements for trains carrying dangerous goods; adhere to the track safety rules, which set out strict safety requirements to protect the integrity of our railway tracks; have an improved emergency response assistance plan, ERAP, that describes the response capabilities, including the specialized personnel and equipment needed to respond to an accident involving dangerous goods; and to provide comprehensive dangerous goods information to emergency planning officials, which can be easily accessed in an emergency to support first responders.

These requirements are supported [Technical difficulty—Editor]. On average, Transport Canada completes about 35,000 rail safety inspections and about 4,000 dangerous goods inspections per year. Additionally, the rail safety program now conducts, on average, 25 SMS audits, safety management system audits, per year, up from three per year in 2013. These inspections and audits allow Transport Canada to swiftly detect and support the resolution of non-compliances, educate stakeholders on regulatory requirements and best practices and take enforcement action when necessary.

These efforts have allowed us to demonstrate real results for improving safety for Canadians and their communities.

I would like to quote the Transportation Safety Board, which tweeted in March, “959 railway accidents were reported to the TSB in 2020—a 12% decrease from the five-year average of 1,091—and 59 rail-related fatalities reported in 2020, 13 fewer than the previous year”.

The transportation of dangerous goods program is also making progress on the safety front. There were 81 rail accidents where dangerous goods were present, though not necessarily released in 2020, down from 171 in 2019 and well below the five-year average of 128. These statistics show that our improved oversight is leading to better results, but we can and need to do better. We are always striving to improve upon our strong foundation of safety.

The Auditor General’s work on rail safety and the transportation of dangerous goods has challenged and guided us to do better in our commitment to being a world-class regulator, and to continuously improve. Recognizing the importance of continuous improvement, we are working hard to implement the Auditor General’s recommendations.

The transportation of dangerous goods program has made significant progress in addressing the recommendations from their follow-up audit. For example, we have improved and updated databases to have more complete and accurate information on regulated companies and their compliance status. We have enhanced how we assess compliance for means of containment. We have implemented an online tracking system to ensure conditions for moving ERAPs are met.

The rail safety program is also making progress to address the Auditor General’s recommendations. We have established a process to integrate the findings from audits of safety management systems into our oversight planning. This means that our oversight is even more risk-based and comprehensive. Our inspections account for the findings from safety management system audits, and vice versa.

We have also achieved early progress against other recommendations. For example, we have developed guidelines for follow up on safety management system audits, improved our data management of safety management systems by launching the pilot of a new database that tracks audit findings, and established a framework to support our auditors in conducting effectiveness audits of safety management systems.

I'm pleased to note that we are on track to launch effectiveness audits of safety management systems in September 2021, which aligns with the Auditor General's recommendations.

To conclude, these actions are consistent with our broader commitment to protecting Canadians who live and work along rail lines. While the data shows we have a strong safety program in place, we remain committed to doing even better.

Thank you. We look forward to your questions.