Winnipeg Manitoba - Coun. Harvey Smith says the railroads have gagged a senior civic official from disclosing the type of hazardous goods being shipped through Winnipeg.
 
Smith (Daniel McIntyre) said the railroads are moving about 400 freight cars with hazardous materials through Winnipeg every day, but the city's emergency preparedness co-ordinator, Randy Hull, was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement before CN Rail and CP Rail agreed to tell him what is in the freight rail cars moving through the city.
 
"I don't even understand why he signed the non-disclosure document," Smith said.
 
"If he has information about what's in those rail cars, that information should be shared with the rest of administration, city council, and the public.
 
"We need to know what's inside those rail cars."
 
CN Rail spokesman Jim Feeny confirmed the railroads release the information to municipalities on the condition a civic official sign a non-disclosure agreement.
 
Feeny said the information is provided to municipalities for first-responder training purposes, adding the railroads don't want the public to know what's in the rail cars for security reasons and to protect customer confidentiality.
 
Feeny said first responders need to know what type of hazardous materials they can be dealing with, adding the railroads will not allow that information to be released to the public.
 
"The overriding goal here is to protect the safety of the public, and local first responders play a critical role in that," Feeny said.
 
"The information is provided for training purposes."
 
The federal government tightened the railroad disclosure requirements on hazardous goods following the 6 Jul 2013, tragedy at Lake Megantic.
 
Feeny said railroads are now required by conditions of Ottawa's Protective Directive 32 (PD32), to release the information annually, showing on a quarterly basis the number of freight cars carrying hazardous goods.
 
Feeny said the terms of PD32 were agreed to by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Transport Canada, and the Railway Association of Canada.
 
Hull could not be reached for comment, but a City of Winnipeg spokesman said the information provided by the railroads is used only by the city's emergency preparedness and response planners.
 
Smith said he asked Mayor Sam Katz at the 24 Sep 2014 council meeting if he knew what hazardous goods were being shipped through the city.
 
Katz said he didn't know, but Smith said he was contacted later that day by Michael Jack, the acting chief operating officer, who told him Hull had the information.
 
However, Smith said Hull told him the following day he had signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits him from releasing the information to anyone without the expressed authorization from the railroads.
 
Smith said Ottawa had stated the railroads would be required to disclose to municipalities every three months information on what was in their rail cars.
 
"But you can't tie an official's hands with a non-disclosure agreement," Smith said.
 
"Surely, that's not what the federal government had in mind when they said the railroads would release that information to municipalities."
 
In an email exchange between Smith and Hull, which Smith distributed to the media, Hull told him CN and CP move 65 to 90 trains through Winnipeg daily, with about 400 rail cars per day carrying some hazardous materials.
 
"What kind of hazardous materials?" Smith asked.
 
"We need to know."
 
Smith said the information Hull is not allowed to release is vital to any discussions on rail line relocation and other community concerns.

Aldo Santin.