The domination of regulatory agencies by the very organizations they regulate — instead of the public interest — must be overcome. It requires leadership at all levels of government.
A policy decision to allow the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway — a company with a poor safety record – to run its trains through a town in Québec with single person crews resulted the fourth deadliest railway disaster in Canadian history in 2013. Eight years later, Transport Canada is still suffering from safety issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Industries have blocked or delayed new regulations and pushed to remove or dilute existing regulations by framing regulations as detrimental to creating jobs and wealth.
In this March 2019 photo, rescuers work at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crash south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Deregulation is playing a role in transportation disasters.
AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene
High-profile rail and aerospace disasters of recent years have been the deadly consequence of the systematic erosion of safety precautions due to deregulation.
Fire crews douse derailed tanker cars carrying crude oil in downtown Lac-Mégantic, Que., in this July 6, 2013, file photo. A trial is now underway for three former railway employees charged in connection with the fatal train derailment.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)