Big fire and explosion in Canada

[molly bloom]

You made me scroll up to see if I said that by mistake.

Then all is well with the world. Kisses, hugs, cuddles to you.

[Uncle Sparky]

That's typically what NDP voters want, yes...

No. Sadly nowadays, most NDP members, including our leader, are not in favour of nationalizing the rail industry and natural recourses. The private sector is only focused on profits. If they make enough, they will spend a bit on safety and the environment, but always far more on lobbying the government to weaken safety and environmental laws and regulations, just like MM&A successfully lobbied the Harper government.

[Uncle Sparky]

If the Conservative government hadn't given the company permission to use one engineer instead of four, the train wouldn't have been left unguarded and running, and the subsequent chain of events could not have happened. The federal Minister of Transport aided and abetted in the crime committed by the railroad.

[notyoueither]

This accident is an example of a lot of factors combining to create a catastrophe, and yes, allowing a train hauling hazerdous material (or anything, really) to be parked on a mainline and left unattended is certainly a big one.

[Fake Boris]

Provincial police has already said they're conducting a criminal investigation. How far will they go, we'll see.

[Asher]

If the Conservative government hadn't given the company permission to use one engineer instead of four, the train wouldn't have been left unguarded and running, and the subsequent chain of events could not have happened. The federal Minister of Transport aided and abetted in the crime committed by the railroad.

What was the date and nature of the request? I've never seen any actual facts reported on this. I'm curious to see them.

From my brief research, the Canadian Rail Operating Rules have never had policies on how and when to park trains beyond:

Section 112, on "Securing Equipment", says: "When equipment is left at any point a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving. Special instructions will indicate the minimum hand brake requirements for all locations where equipment is left."

That is to say, four or two or one engineer while the train was being operated is a red herring by political activists who, for all of the glaring faults of the Harper government, bizarrely chose to focus on points where they have no real basis.

As much glee this gives you, I'd suggest keeping your hands out of your pants unless you can cite something substantial.

Can you point to something where the Harper government were the ones that said it was okay to leave parked trains unattended?

[Uncle Sparky]

I'm quite willing to let the facts come out in court. That way the facts will come out over the next couple of years. Nearer to an election.

[Asher]

If you don't have any fact to support it, why do you state it as fact?

[Wezil]

This will be well down the list of Conservative concerns come election time.

[Fake Boris]

What was the date and nature of the request? I've never seen any actual facts reported on this. I'm curious to see them.

From my brief research, the Canadian Rail Operating Rules have never had policies on how and when to park trains beyond:

Section 112, on "Securing Equipment", says: "When equipment is left at any point a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving. Special instructions will indicate the minimum hand brake requirements for all locations where equipment is left."

LOL

1) Two companies had a special authorization to operate a train with two engineers rather than one - MMA is one of them. Why do you think the minimum was two? Perhaps because it's unreasonable to expect all rules to be applied with just one.
2) It used to be 4 in the 80s, before deregulation
3) An AG audit from 2011 revealed that "Transport Canada failed to properly implement practices to monitor the conformity of explosive material transportation"
4) All of this while the Conservatives announced a 30% budget cut to Transport Canada.

[Fake Boris]

What was the date and nature of the request? I've never seen any actual facts reported on this. I'm curious to see them.

From my brief research, the Canadian Rail Operating Rules have never had policies on how and when to park trains beyond:

Section 112, on "Securing Equipment", says: "When equipment is left at any point a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving. Special instructions will indicate the minimum hand brake requirements for all locations where equipment is left."

LOL

1) Two companies had a special authorization to operate a train with a single engineer rather than two - MMA is one of them. Why do you think the minimum was two? Perhaps because it's unreasonable to expect all rules to be applied with just one.
2) It used to be 4 in the 80s, before deregulation
3) An AG audit from 2011 revealed that "Transport Canada failed to properly implement practices to monitor the conformity of explosive material transportation"
4) All of this while the Conservatives announced a 30% budget cut to Transport Canada.

[Uncle Sparky]

^

2) It used to be 4 in the 80s, before deregulation

Sorry, Asher. I was wrong. The deregulation was under PM Lyin' Brian Mulroney.

[Sava]

Then all is well with the world. Kisses, hugs, cuddles to you.

[Asher]

LOL

1) Two companies had a special authorization to operate a train with a single engineer rather than two - MMA is one of them. Why do you think the minimum was two? Perhaps because it's unreasonable to expect all rules to be applied with just one.
2) It used to be 4 in the 80s, before deregulation
3) An AG audit from 2011 revealed that "Transport Canada failed to properly implement practices to monitor the conformity of explosive material transportation"
4) All of this while the Conservatives announced a 30% budget cut to Transport Canada.

The problem is the train wasn't being operated when this accident happened. What do you not understand about that?

It doesn't matter if there was one or two or four or eight or sixteen engineers on the train when they were operating it. The train was left unattended. Something that was permitted well before Harper's government took office.

[Fake Boris]

Obviously the state of a train left unattended has nothing to do with the number of people operating it before it was left unattended.