Lisa Raitt, federal Minister of Transport, today issued a protective direction directing rail companies to share information with municipalities. “We recognize the responsibilities of all parties involved in maintaining safe railway transportation in Canada.” said Minister Raitt. Effective immediately, Transport Canada requires that any person who transports dangerous goods by rail must provide municipalities with yearly aggregate information on the nature and volume of dangerous goods transported through that municipality and notify municipalities of any significant changes to that information, as soon as possible.
The measure addresses requests from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and its members for more information on the dangerous goods being transported by rail in their communities. In addition these measures further support municipal emergency planners and first responders with their emergency planning and response training
“Today’s announcement is welcome news for Canadian communities,” said Claude Dauphin, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. “It sends a clear message that the Government of Canada fully agrees that local governments need to know basic information about dangerous goods being transported through their communities.”