Transport Canada

• On July 19, 2023, in the Provincial Court of British Columbia, Arctic Pearl Ice and Cold Storage Ltd. was ordered to pay $700,000 after pleading guilty to one charge laid under the federal Fisheries Act.
• The charges stemmed from offences related to transporting and discharging ammonia into a body of water that flows into fish-bearing water.
• Sometime between November 1 and 23, 2017, the storage tank, containing the contaminated ammonia, was collected and transported by truck to Arctic Pearl Ice and Cold Storage Ltd.'s warehouse by a company employee.
• In November 2017, Arctic Pearl Ice and Cold Storage Ltd. was quoted $19,000 plus taxes and freight by a refrigeration contractor to dispose of the contaminated ammonia.

• Promoting commercial vehicle safety is of critical importance, which is why we are looking at new enforcement measures that can bring about positive changes.
• The Hours of Service Regulations are critical for promoting road safety as they mandate how long commercial drivers can operate their vehicles before they need rest.
• By designating certain provisions of the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations as contraventions, authorities have a new tool that allows for swift enforcement.
• The issuance of tickets – when stacked with our new measures on electronic logging devices – are helping to improve commercial vehicle safety for all Canadians."

• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230706774364/en/
  Arbalest Rocketry Prepares the Goose 3 for Launch on July 6th from Spaceport Nova Scotia (Photo: Business Wire)
  Arbalest Rocketry, a rocketry team from Ontario’s York University, made the most of a Launch Canada initiated opportunity to prepare for and execute a sub-orbital launch at Canada’s first commercial spaceport currently being built by Maritime Launch Services Inc. (NEO: MAXQ, OTCQB: MAXQF) in Canso, Nova Scotia.
• Undaunted by the delay, the Arbalest team today launched their amateur high-powered rocket, ‘Goose 3’ from the Spaceport Nova Scotia launchpad.
• Today’s launch is a demonstration that Canadian rocketry and engineering education is making significant progress and developing space sector excellence.
• “It is only fitting that the first launch vehicle to take off from Spaceport Nova Scotia is domestically designed and launched by students from the Arbalest Rocketry team.”
  Representatives from the Canadian Space Agency were also in attendance yesterday at Spaceport Nova Scotia to meet with students and observe the launch event.

• It killed 47 people, orphaned 26 children, spilled a record six million litres of oil and incinerated the town centre.
• Euphemistically called co-regulation or partnership, it was, in effect, self-regulation.
• Read more:
  Why major Canadian railways must no longer be permitted to police themselves

Oil by rail

• In the years leading up to the disaster, the volume of oil transported by rail in Canada soared from 500 tank cars in 2009 to 160,000 in 2013.
• In 2009, there was the equivalent of 14 tank carloads of crude oil per inspector working under the federal government’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Program.
• The first to move cargo under the single-operator rule, MMA’s DOT-111 tank cars were originally designed for carrying corn oil.

Who’s been held accountable?

• No senior official, politician, corporate executive, director or owner has been held to account for their role and responsibility for the tragedy.
• Successive governments have refused demands by the community to establish an independent commission of inquiry.
• After repeated delays, Québec Superior Court ruled in December 2022 that CP could not be held liable for damages suffered by the Lac-Mégantic victims — another setback in the fight for justice.

Disaster aftershocks

• The Lac-Mégantic community has been plagued by a legacy of economic, health and environmental aftershocks following the disaster.
• Those whose lands will be appropriated are seen as the latest victims of the disaster.
• In the meantime, another Lac-Mégantic-type disaster is still possible.

Ongoing safety issues

• Transport Canada’s safety management systems have continuously been on the Transportation Safety Board’s (TSB) watchlist created to highlight “those issues posing the greatest risk to Canada’s transportation system.” In its most recent 2022 watchlist, the board noted that safety management systems are “still not effectively identifying hazards and mitigating risks in rail transportation.” What’s more, the federal government is failing to lift the veil on corporate activities protected by commercial confidentiality.
• When compared to legislation internationally, Canada’s access-to-information laws and whistleblower protections rank poorly.
• Fatigue remains on the TSB watchlist as posing a safety risk to operations.

‘Window still open’

• If we are to minimize the risk of future disasters, stronger regulations must be put in place.
• While odds of transcending the power status quo are formidable, to paraphrase Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, giving up the fight is not an option.