With Lac-Mégantic in mind, Port Coquitlam city council this week voted to urge the federal government to set up a disaster relief fund for future rail disasters.
The unanimous resolution, which will go before the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention next year, calls for shippers of hazardous goods to be charged a fee to establish an independently run, first-response program.
Long-time PoCo mariner and Coun. Mike Forrest said the marine industry has a similar safety and emergency program. And he said if a rail disaster happened in PoCo — which has been split in half by the CP Rail yard for the past century — he hopes the rail company wouldn't "rely on our municipal firefighters to do the job."
In a report to the city's community safety committee, fire chief Nick Delmonico wrote municipalities don't know what dangerous goods are stored in rail yards.
Other PoCo news:
PoCo city council has relaxed its water control regulations so that residents can treat their lawns this summer to stop a chafer beetle infestation.
This month, council amended its bylaw so that homeowners wanting to sprinkle nematodes during the water shortage in July and August can apply to the city’s director of engineering and operations for a permit when Stage 1 and 2 of the water restrictions are in force.
The permit doesn’t exempt residents from the Stage 3 or 4 restricted periods.
