RAIL CONTENTS TRANSPARENCY STILL LACKING

To date Waterloo Region has been very fortunate in regards to having only had minor train derailments to date. The problem of course is that Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Elmira have and do ship some incredibly nasty stuff. Today's Waterloo Region Record advises us that while the Federation of Canadian Municipalities are pushing the Feds for better liability and cleanup insurance requirements; they are also on the secrecy bandwagon. It's kind of ironic and hypocritical to watch the municipailites yell at the railways and the federal government for transparency as to the contents of railcars while at the same time being perfectly satisfied if they are in the know while excluding those citizens living along the rail lines. The Record's story is titled "Rail disaster liability changes urged".

The Federation is appropriately requesting that all flammable goods be classified as "dangerous". After Lac Megantic this seems to be an obvious start. The one thing that I am reading into this article is the appearance that the municipalities may be more concerned about the financial implications to the municipalitiees rather than the probability of deaths and injuries. Yes improving the financing of cleanups is important but how about also pushing harder for stricter standards on the railcars as well as better monitoring of all safety aspects dealing with the transportation of dangerous cargo.