Harper government finally heeds labour's decade-long call for tougher rail safety regulations
The Teamsters and the Tories.
It has a strange, ironic ring to it. And it is especially timely given the serious train derailment last week near Red Deer that closed Highway 2A.
Alliteration aside, talking about the Teamsters and the Tories together gives someone like me who has spent his life advocating the advancement of the labour movement somewhat of an uneasy feeling.
This government in Ottawa does not exactly see things from a labour perspective.
Still, there you have it. The Teamsters and the Tories see one thing the same: public safety when it comes to Canada's railways. Our union has been advocating tighter rail safety controls for almost a decade.
And on June 4 -- just three days before five tanker cars carrying glycol jumped the track south of Red Deer -- Stephen Harper's Conservative government introduced Bill C-33 that will tighten rail safety rules and get railways like Canadian National and Canadian Pacific to put the well-being of Canadians ahead of profits.
No doubt CN and CP will rail on that these proposed rules are unnecessary. They'll probably work the government behind the scenes to ease up.
But any such campaign won't work. Transport Canada knows the numbers -- and so does the Harper government.
