The Trudeau Government: Canada For Sale, China May Apply

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with China's Premier Li Keqiang in December.   Fred Dufour / Associated Press

"Law in China -- despite the term 'rule of law' and the deliberate attraction of expectations about what the rule of law means -- is something quite different altogether, and it really is submission to Party rule."
"What is described in China as the rule of law is more, in fact, the rule by law -- in other words, the use of formal rules, statutes, institutions, and so on to carry out policies."
"[China's rule of law] is nothing more than an instrument for carrying out Party purposes."
Pitman Potter, professor, University of British Columbia A. Allard School of Law

"In that context it seems to me that it's very difficult for the government to approve the Aecon acquisition without incurring significant risk to national security."
"[It would] certainly not be my recommendation [to permit the deal to move forward]."
"It will not make them [proposed Chinese buyer] anything other than an opaque entity operated entirely in accordance with the goals of the state of China."
Ward Elcock, former director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

"It's not aiming [Chinese take-overs] at profit but market share -- particularly in developed countries."
"We could harm ourselves if we insist on opening our doors wide to a state who does not believe in the private property rights and free market system, but is using its SOEs [state-owned enterprises] in the disguise of commercial entities."
Duanjie Chen, senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank

China Communications Construction Co. proposed to buy the Canadian construction firm Aecon late in 2017.  Cole Burston/Bloomberg

The Trudeau government seemed fairly unperturbed that China may come into possession of a Canadian construction firm that would most certainly result in sensitive Canadian data being made available to the Chinese state. But there are warning signs everywhere that scream !caution! that the government doesn't seem inclined to notice. They did, months ago, accede to some level of concerns deciding to instigate an investigation to satisfy critics. Which include other Canadian construction companies claiming the takeover of Aecon by the China Communications Construction Co. would imperil locals in bidding on contracts.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is anxious to sign off on a free trade deal with China, cognizant that should the Aecon deal not go in China's favour that elusive free trade deal that Trudeau thought his trade experts in consultation with their Chinese counterparts had all wrapped up and just needed his signature on a trip to China found himself in an embarrassing situation when the Chinese declined to forward that free trade agreement to a conclusion during that trip and Trudeau returned home empty-handed.

Not a very auspicious conclusion to an agreement that was considered to be a wrap, particularly when he had just returned from a high-echelon Trans-Pacific Trade mission when all the other countries concerned were prepared to take the agreement to the signing table and Trudeau decided at the last moment in conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that Canada had second thoughts, which situation enraged his other TPP counterparts.

Prime Minister Trudeau's next huge international success was his visit to India, where among trade discussions he distinguished himself playing Mr. Dress-up with his adorable family posing in Bollywood get-ups, amazing in their garish costuming to Indians who had no doubt thought that the Canadian sunny-ways Prime Minister was a doltish clown. And then matters turned a little more serious when his entourage suddenly entertained a Sikh-Canadian who had once been found guilty of attempted murder of an Indian cabinet minister while visiting Canada.

So, should it be decided that the China Communications Construction Co., aka an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, not be allowed to take over Aecon in a $1.5-billion deal, there would be consequences, with China convinced that it was being treated differently in foreign take-overs in Canada than other countries' industries investing in Canada. Of course, other nations do not view their corporations as being answerable to their governments as China does.

Developed nations of the world of which Canada is one, alongside Australia, the United Kingdom and others have accused China of influence peddling and political bribery. Centrally owned enterprises have of late rapidly developed their itineraries in acquiring overseas assets. In the 1990s those Chinese investments abroad were valued at $79 billion. Currently, their value has swelled to over $900 billion, in service to China's interests in controlling markets.

It is a growth that fits neatly into China's global influence, with its Belt and Road initiative, expanding the means by which the vast nation with its impressively huge manufacturing facilities can deliver products globally, by its expansion of road, rail and sea infrastructure elsewhere in the world, linking to China. China's geopolitical manoeuvring is fairly transparent at this point. Aecon itself has defended the proposed takeover, pointing out that the construction sector in Canada is inundated as it is by foreign conglomerates from Europe, the U.S., South Korea and elsewhere.

Which may be true, but certainly not representative of the whole picture, since none of those countries seek to further their trade futures and geopolitical influence through monopolization of the world order in production and trade as does China. Experts pointing out that Chinese state-owned enterprises' function is to service the Communist Party of China; they are in fact compelled by Chinese law to surrender any idea of autonomy to the Chinese government.

In 2011, CCCC had been barred, as a result of charges of fraudulent practices, from bidding on any World Bank-backed road or bridge projects.

China : Global Titan

"While virtually everyone agrees that a rules-based system is essential to managing security and trade, a power struggle is underway over who writes and enforces them. The spectacular rise of China over the past two decades and the relative decline of the US mean that sparks are bound to fly. Yet most westerns are only dimly aware of what’s occurring since the rug was so quickly pulled out from under them. The potential for catastrophic miscalculations - including US trade actions against China - are rising with potentially devastating cascading effects to the global economy."
"To get to grips with the seismic shifts underway, consider these five facts: First, China is in the process of surpassing the US economically. By one measure, 35 per cent of world growth from 2017 to 2019 will come from China, 18 per cent from the US, 9 percent from India, and 8 per cent from Europe. By 2050, the top five largest global economies are most likely to be China, India, the US, Brazil, and Indonesia. Is the west even remotely prepared for this kind of world?"
"Second, China is leading the largest urbanization and infrastructure development scheme on earth. Already in its fifth year, the $900 billion "One Belt and One Road" (OBOR) project includes new roads, shipping lanes and building projects stretching to over 65 countries. The idea is to literally rewire global trade from China throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. While details are hazy, OBOR is being financed by Chinese state banks, with a modest strategic contribution by a new Chinese-backed AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank in partnership with other institutions."
"Third, China is set to become a global green powerhouse. China signalled its intention to take the lead on climate change reduction after signing the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. By 2025, most new cars in China will be fully electric vehicles. China is aggressively cutting coal usage. Already, over 60 per cent of high speed rail in the world is in China (10 times the length in Japan, for example). China also recently committed to achieving blue skies in all of its major cities within three years. The changes are already being felt: Beijing air is 30 per cent cleaner this winter than last winter."
"Fourth, China is also setting the global pace on a digital economy, including cashless payments. In major cities, up to 90 per cent of all commercial and retail transactions in convenience stores and cafes are occurring through Alipay and Wechat. E-commerce delivery in large Chinese cities through Alibaba is the currently the fastest in the world. One company, Alibaba, racked up sales of $25 billion in just one day - dwarfing the returns of so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US."
"Finally, Chinese universities are also vaulting to the top of the international rankings. Two schools - Peking University and Tsinghua University - just leapfrogged from well below the top 200 to the top 30 within five years. There are anther 40 universities that are not far behind and set to enter the elite universities in the coming years. While Chinese are still seeking out educations in elite schools in North America and Western Europe, soon they won't have to."
Robert Muggah, Research Director,  Igarapé Institute
Yves Tiberghien, Associate Professor of Political Science, Director Emeritus, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia, Founding Chair, Vision 20 

How China's rise and the US's decline is expected to affect the global liberal order

Image: REUTERS/Jason Lee

The world's consumers wanted greater accessibility to cheaper goods and that seemed to put to bed forever the concept of self-sufficiency in production when nations of the world produced goods that their citizens bought in a conscious effort on the part of governments to grow their industries, taking advantage of the inaccessibility of market goods from other countries and putting up bulwarks against trade and imports through customs and excise duties charges. Then came the vaunted advance of free trade and open markets and China, which altered its politics to reflect the practicality of capitalism married to communism and everything changed.

China, in a relative few short decades hollowed out the industries and manufacturing capabilities that nations depended on to provide employment for their citizens and consumer goods as well. China locked up the markets in production of just about everything, from durable goods to foods. In the process it provided employment for its colossal population, sweeping poverty away. It is sweeping the seas of marketable fish, and building infrastructure throughout Africa, the Middle East and Europe in road, rail and bridges to enable low-cost shipping to all points of the geographic compass.

Over in the industrial hub of Shenzhen, Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has proposed the planet’s biggest waste to energy plant, designed to transform 5,000 tonnes of waste every day into power. The plant is due to open in 2020, and it will be almost a mile wide.

At one time industrial espionage and theft of intellectual property consumed its interests in leap-frogging over other nations' research and development and taking it for their own in an unabashed stride to avail itself of the science pioneered elsewhere but ripe for plucking by a country that customarily flaunted international trade conventions in the interests of speeding along its enterprise. China, the colossus striding across the world of commerce and production in all venues of enterprise, has locked up production in essential construction materials. It undercuts its competitors and puts them out of business, then makes them dependent on what it produces.

In September this year, the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope – FAST for short – is set to open its doors and become operational. First proposed in the early 90s, it will become the biggest single-aperture radio telescope on the planet, with 4,600 triangular panels. The telescope is situated in a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou Province, to protect the project from unwanted magnetic disruptions.

China has become the world's largest steel exporter, it controls 56 percent of the world's production of aluminum and controls 90 to 94 percent of world production of rare-earth elements. Materials required for military purposes like laser-guided missiles, the F-35 fighter jet, cellphones and similar consumer products are dependent on accessibility of rare-earth elements. A recent discovery of rare-earths deposits sufficiently plentiful to meet global demand for centuries has been discovered off Japanese waters; a rare event that gives Japan a position of superiority in that class of fundamental elements.

Although 3D printing is by no means new (nor is it emerging in China alone), in 2014 a Chinese company called WinSun Decoration Design Engineering managed to create a 10-house 3D-printed village in under one day.
After printing out each of the prefabricated modules, the components were lifted into place by a crane and were then ready to use. And in 2015, the same company created the world’s tallest 3D-printed building at the time

In renewable energy, the industries encompassing solar panels and wind turbines now are dominated by China, as well as the nuclear power industry, and China is now looking to control of the semiconductor industry for the ultimate control of electronics and telecom, and will likely in the near future reach a 60 percent control of the market with resulting problems arising in national security in the West. And unlike in the West, in China industries are state-dependent and controlled, significant outreach arms of the communist government but unlike that of the USSR, these are productive, efficient and reliable.

China is planning to build a solar expressway for self-driving cars and electric vehicles that will be able to charge them as they drive, according to the Chinese newspaper Hangzhou Daily

Its territorial disputes in a belligerent move to expand its geography puts it at odds with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, Russia, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Mongolia and North Korea. Its claims to the waters of the East and South China Seas and the natural resources that lie beneath those seas make it a formidable, dedicated adversary to all who might wish to dispute China's self-perceived entitlements. It is not in the business of making friends, it is in the business of making business and growing its inalienable opportunities and territories.

The Tianhe-2 is a 33.86-petaflop supercomputer which has topped the world’s most powerful high powered computing lists for years. Developed as part of the Chinese government’s 863 High Technology Program, the monstrous computer was built by China’s National University of Defense Technology. It boasts 32,000 Intel Xeon E5-2692 12C processors and has more than 1,300 TiB of memory. Although it’s by far the most powerful in terms of calculation capacity, critics say that it’s not as functionally useful as other supercomputers in the US

China believes the future belongs to it, and who is there to dispute that? Its focus on Artificial Intelligence, on space exploration, on wringing all it can from places on Earth remote to its geography has seen it lay claim to Arctic resources, as a "near-Arctic" state. There is nowhere too remote under the sea, in geographic distance, in space where meteorites can be mined for raw resources, not to fall to China's attention, and potential grasp.

The world's largest floating solar power plant was completed and connected to the local power grid in China's Anhui province in May 2015.

Cold and Dark, But It's Home

"Norilsk is a unique city. It was put here by force."
"It is like a survivor. If it had not been for Norilsk, there would have been another principle of life in the Arctic: You came, you worked, you froze = and you left."
Alexander Kharitonov, owner, printing house

"Everything else [beyond the city] is a vast wild land with a wild nature and no people."
"This is where the last wild mammoths died. When they dug the foundations of the buildings, they found the bones of mammoths."
Vladimir Larin, scientist, Norilsk

Due to its location, Norilsk might appear even more isolated than other arctic cities, without ground connections with the rest of the world. The air is the only way to reach it, together with seaway and river boats when the navigation is possible

It was once a dark, frozen, isolated gulag. That was during Soviet times, when Stalin had subversives, enemies of the state and just pure unfortunates sent to this remote city in northern Siberia to work as slave labourers. It was a vast slave prison, part of Stalin's infamous Gulag, where harsh punishment was meted out to people enslaved in a harsh landscape between 1925 and 1956. At its height, an estimated 650,000 prisoners were sent to the camp known as Norillag.

They must have thought they were in Hell, in a place that was perpetually dark throughout the long winter months from late November to June where the sun is never seen and the polar winter is brutal and they worked until they dropped. It was thought that during the two decades of its use, 250,000 of the prisoners died of overwork, of starvation of the effects on the human body of continual exposure to misery and cold, where the temperature was known to drop to minus 62 Celsius.

The place was closed by Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, when human rights became a recognized issue and the-then President dismantled Stalin's slave labour camps. Even so, no foreign visitors may even now access the city without a permit issued by Russia's Federal Security Service. What any foreigner would see if he ventured there now would be a thriving city of 174,000 people living there year-round; a population comprised of descendants of some of the labourers and of the majority who came voluntarily, lured by the prospect of high salaries and the stark beauty of the place.

The city is well populated but the wilderness extending beyond it is uninhabited wilderness for the most part. When winter breaks, and the two months of darkness relent, melting snow brings buried remains of the prisoners to the surface. The city is so remote only plane or boat on the Arctic Ocean offer passage out.

Those who came for the steady work on offer do hard, well-remunerated labour in Norilsk's metallurgical industry, a large complex of mines and smelters representing Norilsk Nickel a former state company since privatized, the world's largest producer of the rare metal palladium as well as a supplier of nickel copper and other metals. In recognition of difficult living and working conditions there are 90 days of paid holiday time, and retirement age is set at 45.

Every year, more than 2 million tons of gas (mainly dioxide sulfur, but also nitrogen oxides, carbon and phenols) are expelled into the atmosphere

Move than 6,000 square kilometers have been turned into a dead zone characterized by dead trees, by mud and snow. More sulfur dioxide is belched out of the company's chimneys that what all of France produces in a year. Its residents, however, are proud of their city and their ability to survive in a harsh environment. Lake Dolgoye even has its dedicated contingent of swimmers eager for the bracing experience when they dip into its icy waters in a lake that only partially freezes; where hot water pipes from a power plant warms it to below freezing.

The Norilsk’s citizens suffer ‘the polar night syndrome’, resulting in anxiety, nervousness, drowsiness or insomnia, depending of the seasons, while the psychological discomfort and poor emotional stimuli also generate many cases of depression. Pictured in January locals celebrate Epiphany by swimming in Lake Norilsk

There are some newly-introduced social amenities in the city, such as Internet service, and the presence of the Norilsk College of Arts, as well as the Norilsk Greenhouse growing fresh product in heated greenhouses. There is home brew available and live music at the Zaboi Bar whose owner claims to struggle with the climate, dreading returning to the city after being away, yet never failing to return to the city he "really do[es] not want to go back" to.

This huge pollution has a strong influence on the people’s health. Life expectancy is 10 years less than in other regions of Russia, the risk of cancer is two time higher and respiratory diseases are widespread

“It is really impossible to emphasize just how otherworldly this place was. Most people, including the city's nuns and head doctors, claim that those from Norilsk have better health. And this is without mentioning that all nature in a radius almost the size of Germany is dead from severe air pollution. I already knew that the people of Norilsk loved their hometown, but I didn't expect them to so openly contradict medical findings [of cancer ten times the rate elsewhere in Russia].”
Victoria Fiore, filmmaker

Many buildings have been gradually abandoned 

New International Dance; Everyone's Doing It!

"The report points to Canadian interests in mining. The (Brazilian Foreign Ministry) will demand explanations from Canada."
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

"Canada has interests in Brazil, above all in the mining sector. I can't say if the spying served corporate interests or other groups."
Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao

"Like any crime drama, you look for capability and intent. Could CSEC do Brazil? Of course, it has significant capability to collect intelligence in the national interest. But on motive, you come up way short. If it was Iran, nobody would be surprised. But this is Brazil. I'm really short on motive.
"If you look at the document, it looks like really more a case of a scenario-building exercise. We were all too busy chasing bad guys who can actually kill people. The idea that we spend a lot of time, or any time at all, on a country like Brazil is pretty low margin stuff, not likely to happen.
"They have to do paper exercises and say, 'OK, let' say our target in counter-terrorism lives in Mali and we have to go up against the Malian telecommunications system.' They'll go look at another country and say, 'OK, well they have a similar network so let's do a paper exercise and say, 'What do we need?' I think that's all this was.
Ray Boisvert, former director general, counter-terrorism, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

The Government of Canada has focused deeply on strengthening trade ties with a multitude of countries. It's looking toward a Canada-EU deal, a Canada-Trans Pacific Partnership deal, and another to enhance trade relations with China, and then there's the BRICS nations with their reputation as booming economic countries steaming up the horizon. Canada already has quite a lot of interest in Brazil, Canadian mining operations are some of the largest in the world and there are a number of operations in Brazil.

The mischief that Edward Snowden, with his outraged sense of righteousness, in making use of a finger-drive to lift thousands of secret intelligence documents in his position as a secure contractor with American intelligence, has already had far-reaching consequences. The sanctimony of Snowden, along with that of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, translates as honourable intentions by those who support their counter-government intelligence enterprise, seeming to believe that by airing Western countries' purported dirty linen they are doing a great public service.

What they are doing is indulging their self-righteously harmful inner sense of self as social liberator from the hypocrisies of government agencies whose agendas appear to offend them. They don't seem to engage overlong in the kind of introspection that might introduce them to the consequences of their revelations or the alternatives to the governments whose agendas they decry. In any event, this incident where Brazil is said to have been made aware through their own TV network that Brazil was targeted for espionage by the "Five Eyes" membership spy agencies, has sent Brazil into a tizzy of indignation.

It would be amazing if Brazil did not itself engage in espionage. The simple fact of realpolitik is that all countries do engage in subterfuge and spying on others, friends and foes alike in an attempt to ensure they are not caught out by any nasty surprises - mostly along the lines of political-security espionage. It would be hugely surprising if Canadian government security agencies were flat-footed enough to be conducting industrial espionage, a kind of conduct that hasn't the same reputation as security-related espionage. It smacks of a kind of unsavoury enterprise.

It's the kind of underhanded but common enough enterprise that Canada and its agencies relate to China, a great hulking absorber-and-lifter of others' technological inventions, technical blueprints, industrial momentum, and investment opportunities. The Brazilian network, Globo had been able to obtain a copy of a slide presentation by CSEC, introduced at a 2012 meeting of the "Five Eyes" group of intelligence agencies from Canada, the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Would they all be fascinated by data picked up relating to Brazil's mines and energy?

How does one spell doubt it?

"Mining companies need their governments from time to time to navigate challenges we get, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't spy on people we need for permits" offered Ann Wilkinson, head of investor relations, Colossus Minerals Inc., engaged in developing a Brazilian gold mine. "I would have thought there was no economic or political nexus that would suggest to either country to want to know about the other", said Peter Marrone, chief executive of Yamana Gold Inc., pointing out that the mining processes of each country are "very distinct".

"Canada is not the only country engaged in foreign economic intelligence collection. What is more surprising is that the Brazilians seem to be indicating the absence of any counter-intelligence capacity on their part; i.e., a capability to protect sensitive, high value information against international espionage", appeared to be the considered, alternate opinion of distinguished research professor emeritus at Carleton University, Martin Rudner. Who points out that though CSEC is permitted the collection of intelligence relating to foreign governments, its activities are reviewed by a retired senior judge.

Seems more likely that Brazil is engaging in a bit of sophomoric naivete; espionage of all kinds is known to exist simply because everyone knows it does on the evidence and the assumptions based on the evidence. It's one of those embarrassing situations where you don't want it revealed in public. While the governments may know what occurs, their populations don't necessarily, and on the evidence being revealed feel vulnerable and angry, leaving their governments no alternative but to blow hot on cold issues.

"It's Crucial"

The disaster of Lac-Megantic, Quebec is raw. Only yesterday for the first time did police permit reporters to enter the area of impact, in a guided tour which warned beforehand that what they were about to see would be hard to take. Roughly 60% of the area has been sifted through, and 38 bodies found; another dozen to go, but it is difficult and dangerous to remain for too long in the deadly fumes and overwhelming heat of the area.

The town saw a large number of curiosity-seekers on the week-end, people compelled by their fascination of disasters to see with their very own eyes what news media may have failed to convey.

Work continues at the crash site of the train derailment and fire Tuesday, July 16, 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Que.
(Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

In fact, some of the media personnel who have direct ties with the town because they live and work locally, say that despite their pain in touring the area, they would never have been able to imagine the affecting depth of the calamity without being witness to its after-effects. They slowly looked about them, conscious all the while that there were still the dead whose remains were waiting to be discovered by those working on their hands and knees for that very distinct purpose.

Transportation Board Chairman Wendy Tadros has advised that safety records of individual train companies are to be published. Those train companies feel concerned with the possibility that the federal government may over-react, calling for additional regulations for their industry to observe. She added, speaking with reporters, that it has been her experience that the investigation of crashes conclude with the understanding that they are never determined to be the fault of a single person. The cause/s are cumulative in nature, and not confined to a narrow spectrum.

Canadian short line rails are subject to the very same regulations that larger, Class I railroads must observe. Some enjoy a better safety record than others. But on the whole, rail transportation has significantly improved its safety record over the past decade. "I would put my safety record beside any other Class I railroad's safety record", said Mario Brault, president of Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc whose railways move over 150,000 carloads of steel, lumber and additional commodities across Canada on 2,100 or so of track.

Canadian short-line rail companies, he claims, are safer than the larger railroads. He cites more face-time with employees, trains that move at a slower pace resulting in less likelihood of a major line derailment. "Smaller sometimes is better. I wouldn't be shy at all to make comparisons", he said. And he hopes that federal regulators would consider the tragic accident last week-end in Quebec a truly isolated one -- and, representing the single most catastrophic rail accident in Canadian history, it must qualify -- and not result in unnecessary regulations whose effect would impede commerce.

Railroads have historically linked the country from sea to sea to sea. They were vital to local economies. But original cargoes like wood and coal and potatoes have been replaced by industrial commodities and dangerous goods. The towns that were once built around railways no longer have much connection to them other than general revenues that accrue to whichever province they are located within and enrich. The short-run trains just follow the tracks running through town, more frequently, with greater urgency, and carrying more potentially dangerous loads.

"As a community we used to have a direct economic interest from the railway. No more. Now there is much more inconvenience and risk than advantages. There are no advantages", said Michel Gilbert, Mayor of Mont Saint-Hilaire on Montreal's south shore. "It's a fair perspective that if there's no business for the train to conduct in your town, there is a diminished benefit. The concern here is if you said 'Not in my backyard' and if everyone said 'Not in my town' then you'd never be able to get anything moved'", commented Brigham McDown, a federal transportation and energy policy expert at Southlake, Texas consultancy United Transportation Advisers.

In Farnham, Quebec, where the engineer Tom Harding who drove the train at the centre of the Lac-Megantic disaster lives, the municipal council ironically passed a decree halting all transport by train through its territory until such time as federal regulators can prove safety. Three quarters of the 9,000 residents of Farnham live within 500 metres of the main rail line. "We're not in a position to reassure our citizens because we have the same information they do about what's coming through here -- nothing", said town manager Francois Glasson.

Reporters who walked along the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic's main line last week discovered loose spikes on the line, along with decayed rails. They aren't technical experts, however. And it's highly unlikely that just because a small town, concerned about the welfare of its citizens, declares its intent, that it can unilaterally declare the rail tracks running through its interior to be off limits to the rail company that owns them. Railways that cross provincial boundaries fall under federal regulation.

It is the railways themselves that exert controls over train operations. Towns are now demanding, and have been for some time, that they be given some say in the transportation process. "A lot of us would wish that rail lines would be outside our town borders. But we know that communities have been built around rail stations so that's difficult to address. In the short term, people simply want to know if our infrastructure is able to handle these volumes safely. It's crucial", said Eric Forest, president of the Quebec Union of Municipalities.