The Member of Parliament for South Okanagan-West Kootenay is raising concerns about the Trail sulphuric acid spills in Ottawa. Richard Cannings says there are questions to be raised with Transport Canada and the Minister of Transport. In addition to the large number of claims and vehicle write offs, Cannings says he’s heard from local government, who were impacted as well.
“The impact it has on local first responders and the regional authorities who have to react to these hazardous materials spills when Transport Canada is apparently responsible for that, but their teams are far away. They’re in Kelowna, Kamloops, and Calgary.”
The issue was brought up to Cannings during a meeting with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary in September.
“They were looking into it; they had found that there was some concern around staffing levels at Transport Canada in terms of dealing with this and they asked me if I could bring this up with the minister.”
Cannings says there’s concern that positions have been lost to attrition over time as people retire and then the positions aren’t filled or take a long time to fill. Cannings says he’s in the process of learning more right now and will be following up with the Minister regarding possible improvements.
Last Wednesday, he also raised the issue during question period asking whether the spills were being investigated by Transport Canada and what enforcement action will it take to resolve the issues. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did respond saying they take the situation seriously and that it’s something Transport Canada is looking at.
