https://themilitant.com/2019/09/28/lac-megantic-profits-before-peoples-safety-once-again/
Lac-M??gantic: Profits before people???s safety ??? once again
??By Katy LeRougetel
??and John Steele
Vol. 83/No. 36
October 7, 2019
July 6, 2013, day of train derailment in Lac-M??gantic, Quebec, that
killed 47 people. Upper left is Tafisa, largest particle board plant in
North America. Plant depends on tracks that were rebuilt through center
of town weeks after explosion and fire, while town center was razed.
July 6, 2013, day of train derailment in Lac-M??gantic, Quebec, that
killed 47 people. Upper left is Tafisa, largest particle board plant in
North America. Plant depends on tracks that were rebuilt through center
of town weeks after explosion and fire, while town center was razed.
LAC-M??GANTIC, Quebec ??? ???This is proof once more, that we are not safe in
Lac-M??gantic,??? Robert Bellefleur, spokeperson for Lac-M??gantic Citizens
Coalition and Organizations for Rail Safety, told CBC News after two
train derailments took place here Aug. 24. They occurred on a level
crossing on the same route used by the runaway 72-car oil train that
crashed and blew up, killing 47 people and destroying the town center in
July 2013.
Bellefleur and others here have been fighting for the tracks to be
relocated ever since that disaster.
Six years later the conditions for rail workers and the town???s residents
remain as dangerous as ever. In both August derailments, train cars were
dragged some distances with wheels off the tracks. One train was
transporting dangerous chemicals.
The incidents occurred on defective rails on the steep hill above the
town that a Transport Canada report in May said carried a ???heightened
risk of derailment.??? The report noted that the number of defective rails
in that area alone had risen from 115 in 2015 to 253 last year.
Central Maine and Quebec Railway claimed it fixed the tracks Sept. 5 and
Transport Canada says it is now inspecting the repairs. The government
ordered a 10-mile-per-hour speed limit on stretches of the track until
the inspection is completed.
The citizens coalition is seeking an injunction to stop the movement of
all dangerous goods in the region until all the rails have been
repaired. The group ???no longer trusts rail companies like CMQR,???
Bellefleur said.
???The capitalists??? drive for profits lies behind the disaster and its
aftermath in Lac-M??gantic,??? Steve Penner, Communist League candidate for
the federal riding of Papineau in Montreal, told the Militant?? in
response to the recent developments. ???This and the Aug. 15 death of a
rail worker at the Canadian National yards in Toronto?? shows that it
will take working-class struggle to win workers control of production
and transportation,??? he said.
Ongoing fight for a bypass
Despite a pledge by federal officials to build a railway bypass around
the town, a route is still to be approved and chemical-laden cars using
the unsafe tracks roll through Lac-M??gantic, generating profits for
Central Maine and Quebec Railway shareholders.
???The authorities listen to Mr. Brassard, not the population,??? retired
masonite factory worker Giles Fluet told the Militant, referring to
Louis Brassard, president of Tafisa, North America???s largest particle
board plant. The factory is located in Lac-M??gantic???s industrial park.
The company depends on the rail tracks, which were rebuilt through the
center of town within weeks of the disaster.
After the 2013 disaster ???the municipal council in league with developers
decided to bulldoze dozens of buildings downtown,??? even though they were
not contaminated by the crude oil from the train wreck, Citizens
Coalition activist and retired highway worker Gilbert Carrette said.
The original town center remains a vacant field to this day. Many
working people these worker-correspondents spoke with complained about
the unaffordable rents for apartments in the handful of new downtown
buildings that have sprung up.
The government and rail bosses tried to frame up rail worker engineer
Tom Harding and train dispatcher Richard Labrie, both members of United
Steelworkers Local 1976, for the Lac-M??gantic disaster. A 12-member jury
found them not guilty in 2018. In a statement for the citizens coalition
after the verdict, Bellefleur told the press that those responsible for
the deaths and destruction were bosses ???at high management levels to
ensure maximum benefits for top company officials and shareholders of
the oil and railway companies involved.???
In fact, no charges were ever brought against Montreal, Maine and
Atlantic Railway bosses.
???The government was quick to prosecute workers,??? Pierre Arseneau,
regional coordinator of the United Steelworkers, said after the verdict.
???But it???s an entirely different story when it comes to corporate leaders.???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Support GM strikers, Blackjewel coal miners!
???Blackjewel miners keep up camp, say ???No pay, we stay!
???Imperialism is the arsonist in Brazil???s rainforest
???SWP national tour: Workers struggles point road forward
??????Cancel Puerto Rico debt,??? say protesters in NY, Philadelphia
???US rulers step up sanctions, tell Tehran to pull back in Mideast
Feature Articles ???Climate hysteria is obstacle to defense of land and labor
Also In This Issue ???Lac-M??gantic: Profits before people???s safety ??? once
again
???Washington tightens squeeze on Cuba???s revolution
???NY construction workers protest deaths, nonunion sites
Editorials ???Support GM strikers, Ky. coal miners!
On the Picket Line ???Baltimore Symphony kept playing music throughout lockout
???Thousands of nurses strike 1-day over workload, patients??? safety
Books of the Month ??????FBI disruption violates constitutional rights of SWP???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Letters
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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Clarence Darrow
??? I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of
God was the end of wisdom. ???
??? Clarence Darrow,