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Vol. 81/No. 27 July 25, 2017
Lac-Mégantic group calls for rail bypass, backs
rail workers
The following article was submitted by Robert Bellefleur, spokesperson
for the Citizens and Groups Coalition for Rail Safety in Lac-Mégantic,
Quebec — formed in the wake of the July 6, 2013, oil train derailment
and explosion that killed 47 people and destroyed the town center — to
fight to force Ottawa to build a railway bypass around the town of
6,000. Locomotive engineer Tom Harding and train dispatcher Richard
Labrie, both members of United Steelworkers Local 1976, face frame-up
charges of 47 counts of criminal negligence.
It has been shown — by rail unionists and groups fighting for rail
safety and by a series of investigative reports in the Toronto Globe and
Mail — that responsibility for the catastrophe rests squarely on the
bosses of the now-bankrupt Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, with
the complicity of the Canadian government. If convicted, the two rail
workers, along with Jean Demaitre, a minor railway company official
similarly charged, face up to life in prison.
❖
BY ROBERT BELLEFLEUR
LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — On July 6 members of the Citizens and Groups
Coalition for Rail Safety in Lac-Mégantic held a press conference
centered on the real and imminent danger of a second derailment in
downtown Lac-Mégantic, at the very place where the Montreal, Maine and
Atlantic train derailed in 2013.
The coalition conveyed to journalists its deep concern about the
dangerous curve of the new tracks through the town center that were
rebuilt in the fall of 2013 following the tragedy. The tracks were built
at a sharper 8-degree angle, creating a greater risk of derailment than
the original 4-degree curve in place at the time of the disaster.
The fears of the coalition have been heightened. Since January 2014, the
Central, Maine and Quebec railway — which replaced the Montreal, Maine
and Atlantic — has been running around 10 trains a week through this
curve, regularly transporting dangerous cargo in tanker cars filled with
propane, sulfuric acid, sodium chlorate, as well as automobile fuel
containing ethanol.
This is another clear proof of the chronic laxness of Central Maine and
Quebec Railway’s management and the federal government’s Transport
Canada, while Tom Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre are still
vociferously being prosecuted as solely responsible for the July 6,
2013, tragedy.
Their trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 11. For a majority of the
people of Lac-Mégantic the accused in this case are not the ones who
should be in the dock.
‘Harding viewed as hero’
On the contrary, many Lac-Mégantic citizens view Tom Harding, the
train’s engineer, as a hero.
When the parked train rolled, derailed and the first explosions erupted
that night, Harding quickly ran to the site of the disaster. He asked
firemen for protective clothing in order to risk his life to detach and
separate the last 10 unexploded oil tanker cars from the inferno that
threatened to destroy the northwestern part of the town.
Harding showed exceptional courage that night. He does not deserve to be
treated as a common criminal, nor does Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre.
They all carried out their responsibilities as best they could under
unacceptable work conditions imposed by an irresponsible company guilty
of many breaches of the most elementary rules of railway safety.
For the citizens coalition, the public inquiry into the Lac-Mégantic
catastrophe, which political authorities have so far refused to hold,
has only been postponed. We hope the criminal trial before a jury in
Sherbrooke that begins in September will exonerate the workers and shine
a spotlight on the responsibility of senior Montreal, Maine and Atlantic
managers, politicians and high officials from Canada’s previous
government for this tragedy.
Related articles:
DC fundraiser backs framed-up Quebec rail workers (photo box)
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