Minister of Transportation Visits to Gogama Derailment Site
Photo from Ontario Transport Minister Del Duca’s visit to Gogama derailment site last Friday (March 13, 2015). Photos Minister Del Duca
“The safety of our communities is our top priority. Improved rail safety will not only benefit Ontario but also the safety, environmental and economic well-being of communities across Ontario and Canada.
There have been a number of very serious and unacceptable train derailments across the country in recent months, including the most recent derailment in Gogama.
[March 13, 2015] I had the opportunity to visit the site and hear directly from CN and Ministry of Environment and Climate Change officials, who continue to monitor the clean-up progress. My colleague, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, David Zimmer also met with Mattagami First Nation Chief Walter Naveau earlier this week to hear first-hand the impact to the community and to the surrounding environment.
While Transport Canada is responsible for the transportation of dangerous goods by rail, marine and air, we all need to work together to ensure that another incident like this does not happen again and to better protect our communities.
Earlier [last] week, I spoke directly with Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, as well as my Quebec counterpart, Transport Minister Robert Poëti to reiterate our government’s serious concerns with respect to rail safety. In a joint letter [scroll down below photos to view letter], Minister Poëti and I also called on the Federal Government to do more to improve rail safety and regulations to better protect our citizens, communities, and the environment.
We will continue to work with Transport Canada to support safe operations of railways and advocate on the important issue of rail safety on behalf of all Ontarians.”
