Following Mulroney’s deregulation, the government withdrew from the rail industry. CN was privatized in 1995, and a 2001 regulation allowed companies to manage their own safety. Since then, track inspections have become increasingly rare.
The Carney administration’s desire to continue this deregulation does nothing to reassure Bellefleur. “Those regulations are there for a reason. They’ve often been implemented in the wake of disasters.”
Is anyone surprised? It's all about cutting costs and maximize profits for the shareholders. Everything that has to do with Canada's economic lifelines like rail transportation, shipping ports, airports, should all be nationalized. They're building a new port near Montréal that's essentially going to be owned by private foreign interests from Saudi Arabia or some other Persian Gulf country like Qatar or the Emirates. The actual port from Montreal-Est to downtown is still under capacity, but they still want to open a new one. Probably with the intent to close the current publicly owned port and use the private one.