Thursday, June 25, 2015

Crazy Train


Words from CEO Hunter Harrison that residents of Wabamum Lake who remember what his tenure meant for safety at CN will be gritting their teeth at.

The culture he presided over was all about speed and cost cutting over safety, ever longer, heavier trains hitting  corners at ever faster speeds with predictably disastrous results.

Followed by arrogant and outrageously exploitive attempts to buy silence from victims with quick cheques and gag orders.

The government needs to accept that the ideological decision to let rail companies self regulate their safety standards was a disastrous mistake and reinstate a vigorous regulatory regime over the industry.

Absent that, all the kabuki shadow play of the hapless Lisa Raitt huffing and puffing is just smoke and mirrors.

3 comments:

Purple library guy said...

Ya know, I rarely comment on your blog because I so rarely disagree with anything you say. If you'd just screw up now and then you could have some conversation around here.

Cliff said...

I'll see what I can do.

Michael Taylor said...

Cliff, this is a story that appeared with a bang and I thought would carry more weight. The people of Revelstoke should be calling for big-time answers. Only Hunter Harrison could puff those words and act outraged!
Self-regulation is the neo-liberal dog that "caint hunt" because it requires a corporate entity to make moral and ethical decisions. Impartial, uncaptured regulatory oversight is ALWAYS in the public interest, but many of our current politicians have no concept of this. Look at regulation of the oil and gas sector in your province. How has that worked out?

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