This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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It took almost six months of tough negotiations, but Ottawa and Quebec have finally come to an agreement on how to cover the costs of last summer’s catastrophic train disaster in Lac-Mégantic. Almost all area of the town’s business district was grounded after a runaway train loaded with crude oil got off its tracks and exploded in town center, claiming 47 lives.
It was finally agreed that both governments would bear one half of the first $50-million that is planned to proceed towards paying for the cleanup and rebuilding of the downtown core. Whereas, the demand of Quebec government of not setting a maximum on the amount of compensation that may eventually lead up till the end of recovery process for the Lac-Mégantic residents was accepted by the federal government. Quebec’s Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Alexandre Cloutier, mentioned that “the federal government insisted on setting a maximum amount of compensation. For Quebec, this position was untenable given Ottawa’s responsibility in insuring the safety for the transportation of dangerous goods.”
Quebec has harshly criticized a key change in policy by the federal government regarding financial compensation for human disasters. Quebec’s Minister of Public Security, Stéphane Bergeron, revealed that “the problem that we had was that the federal government wanted to put a ceiling on expenditures and refused to consider some of Quebec’s demands.” It was further concluded that “this was the main point of contention during negotiations, but we came to an agreement.”
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