WestCoastRunner

MG will go a lot farther with women than your answer guyser2!

What a great poem! I love it.

Come on Shady, Don't be a fear mongerer. No reputable doctors in Canada will perform late term abortions.

This thread is about transparency and openness about what is being transported through communities by railcars. Geez.

Do you honestly expect me to answer this with the same expertise as a mayor/city planner/emergency preparedness staff of any municipality across Canada. Let's great real Tim. Providing information about when and how much hazardous material is being transported through someone's town will benefit any community across Canada. Let's drop the secrecy and lets be transparent. As far as my anti-fossil jihad. You are a paranoid dude!

Well, I tend to have more faith in mayors of communities than you do. Timing of shipments provides valuable information. Knowledge is power. Why you continue to deny this is totally baffling to me.

As I have said earlier: First of all, why keep citizens of their communities in the dark about what hazardous material is being transported through their town. Perhaps they are being transported near schools, hospitals, high density neighbourhoods. With this knowledge, city planners/local politicians (if they have any balls) can do much to pressure the federal gov't for high safety standards, planning of future development etc. Knowledge is power, or haven't you heard. The whims of mayors of our communities are there to protect the citizens that elected them. I don't understand why think it is ok to keep communities in the dark about hazardous material that is being transported through their communities. Why the secrecy?

Again, this thread is not about pipelines. It's about rail cars. You are going to turn this into a major thread drift.

You have not presented a good argument for not notifying the communities with 'advance notice'. Check with the mayors across Canada. They would disagree with your stance.

From time to time? In British Columbia, rail cars transporting crude oil and other petroleum products has increased 200 percent from last year. There were 3,400 oil and petroleum rail-car shipments in BC last year compared to 1,200 in 2012 and only 50 in 2011. Not only that, train derailments jumped 20 percent to 110 incidents, highest in 5 years.

Hide under the bed!

Again, why should citizens of a community be kept in the dark of hazardous materials passing through 'their' towns. How does it not help people plan or prepare? Enviro-activists? I don't think the mayors of communities across Canada are enviro-activists, and there are plenty of mayors rising up against the rail companies after the Quebec incident. This has nothing to do with pipelines. Stay focused on the secrecy issue regarding rail transportation.

These types of screenings happen all the time for potential candidates. It's just getting a lot of airtime because of the hot button issue.

First of all, why keep citizens of their communities in the dark about what hazardous material is being transported through their town. Perhaps they are being transported near schools, hospitals, high density neighbourhoods. With this knowledge, city planners/local politicians (if they have any balls) can do much to pressure the federal gov't for high safety standards, planning of future development etc. Knowledge is power, or haven't you heard.

The issue is the secrecy of railcars moving dangerous cargo through communities without notification. This has nothing to do with pipelines so don't try and bring that into this issue.

Awesome speech, especially with Mother's Day coming up. But I suppose that was the intent of his speech.

Isn't there already a thread about this?

Thumbs up to JT!

In British Columbia, rail cars transporting crude oil and other petroleum products has increased 200 percent from last year. There were 3,400 oil and petroleum rail-car shipments in BC last year compared to 1,200 in 2012 and only 50 in 2011. Not only that, train derailments jumped 20 percent to 110 incidents, highest in 5 years. These stats should make Canadians pause and reflect on this secrecy issue with rail cars.

That may be so, however, communities will not get advance notice of dangerous cargo moving through their communities: "Two measures that the federal government is refusing to take, responding to railway insistence, is advance notification by the railways to municipalities of the movement of dangerous cargos through their jurisdictions, and more extensive ‘route planning’ that would direct trains carrying dangerous cargos around populated areas. The latter measure would be costly for the railways and not logistically possible in many cases." Can you back up the fact that this mayor knows nothing about what he is talking about?

A southern BC Community Mayor has come out blasting the necessity for train cargo confidentiality agreements. As it now stands, citizens of communities across Canada have no idea of the cargo that is travelling through our towns, villages and cities. This confidentiality agreement only allows use of the cargo information made available to first responders and emergency planners. This appears to be a way to deflect public scrutiny away from CN, CP and the Harper government (he loves his secrecy, don't you know). Their argument is that the confidentiality agreement is for security reasons against terrorists etc. and to protect the confidentiality of the businesses using this transportation method. This doesn't make sense when we know where pipelines are located (and can cause significant damage if ruptured), we see tanker trucks rolling through our communities with propane, chemicals etc.; we know the goods that ships carry that are sittng in the Vancouver port. So, why the need for these confidentiality agreements?

I heard a profound statement from a journalist tonight on this issue. He mentioned the international efforts to locate the missing Malaysian plane. Why not do the same for these kidnapped girls. Countries around the world should join forces to rescue these poor girls. Not only are these girls subjected to horrific conditions but also the Nigerian kids that are left behind that are now denied an education because of the fear of them being kidnapped.

That makes sense.

You missed the part where the student's parents insist they attend this college if they want their education paid for. Sometimes, students do not have a choice.

And again, I would have to quote: Bencher Raj Anand, renowned human rights advocate, states that “to prevent a student from manifesting his or her own sexual identity is itself a violation of the Human Rights Code.” And asking students to make a false declaration, either impugns their good characters or advocates a life of repression. This is how they are denying a gay student their human rights.