Sunday Poem: You Know What I Mean

I’ve had my fill of social media
When all I see is Fissipedia.

Sunday Poem: Some Fledgling Poet By The Name Of Yeats

Who was it so silent who wrote the verse
On Being Asked For A War Poem?
Some fledgling poet by the name of Yeats.
Now tasked to write an anti-war poem I converse
With deceased William Butler to show him
His old man on a winter’s night still resonates.

 

The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied

This is a book I highly recommend. – Jack Locke

by Bruce Campbell, James Lorimer & Co. Publishers

      CLICK HERE to order a copy from the publisher

“The book uncovers new elements of the story behind the Lac-Mégantic disaster: what happened, how it happened, who was responsible, and why it can happen again.

 Lac-Mégantic was not a rare random occurrence, impossible to foresee. On the contrary, it was the culmination of a series of events, policies, decisions, which as the book details, over time saw an enormous build-up in the risk of catastrophe, to the point where it became a matter of Russian roulette— not if, but when.

The book traces the trajectory of deregulation—accelerated by privatization and fiscal austerity—beginning with the Mulroney government, continuing with the Chretien-Martin government, and culminating with the Harper Conservatives.

It chronicles the measures, which systematically removed safety protections— producing a weakened and compliant regulator captured by a powerful industry—which subordinated government’s foremost obligation to protect its citizens, the citizens of Lac-Mégantic, to the private interests of corporations. Public betrayal.

The book recounts the story of US railway hard-liner Hunter Harrison who, as head of CN and later CP, transformed the Canadian railway landscape; and with CP became a central player in the highly profitable but increasingly risky transportation of Bakken crude and Alberta bitumen.

It shows how, despite critical assessments of Transport Canada’s deeply flawed rail safety regime, and warnings from inside the department, senior officials and their political masters downplayed the growing dangers in the rush to get oil to coastal refineries like Irving. The railways, averse to limitations on their lucrative new revenue stream, pressured government to block or delay regulations to help cope with the new reality.

The book describes how CP subcontractor, Montréal Maine and Atlantic Railway, headed by another US railroader Ed Burkhardt, a company with an appalling safety record and a culture of negligence—was able to gain permission from Transport Canada to operate its oil trains, which ran through Lac-Mégantic, with a single crewmember. It probes the decision-making dynamics within Transport Canada that led to this approval, and the abnegation of ministerial responsibility. It reveals how the single person crew decision was covered up as a cause of the disaster up by the politically compromised final Transportation Safety Board report—overriding the findings of the investigation team.

It is also the story of lives, which were forever changed by the tragedy, subsequent tragedies endured by many, and the courageous struggle of those who have fought against despair and for safety and justice for their community.

Only three front-line workers were put on trial for criminal negligence. They were acquitted. : No decision-makers within the industry, the company and the government were held to account.

Virtually all criminal and civil actions have been settled behind closed doors except the criminal trial, where the only people who testified were low-level company and government employees.

No company executives or its owner, no senior government officials, no political or industry leaders— were compelled to testify under oath. As a vehicle to uncover the truth and hold those responsible to account, the legal system failed.  A public inquiry is  the only remaining vehicle capable of  getting at the truth and bringing a measure of justice.

 Finally, the Harper and Trudeau government’s failure to address fundamental safety risks that still exist, leave open the door for history to repeat itself at a time when oil-by-rail traffic is reaching record levels, and estimated in 2019 to be three times the volume it was at the time of Lac-Mégantic.”

Advance Praise for “The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied”

“Bruce Campbell has carried out meticulous research in many fields to piece together the whole story of a catastrophe-in-the making, and his findings, as reported in this book, will be of interest to readers who value human life, intact communities, and a safe environment.  Much more than a research report, the book is a dramatic read, with no letup in the action from start to finish.”

Sunday Poem: The Westmount Library Reading Room

The Westmount Library Reading Room

is sedate, yet full of magical images

I sit across a table from a retired

McGill Man. He reads the newspaper, framed

by the table’s green, glass, conical lampshades

I want to take his photo

Respecting the sanctuary

I do, and therefore do not

Sunday Poem: I Know Too Well Too Much Bacon Will Kill

I know too well too much bacon will kill
The obvious I tend not to notice
A nation’s hair is groomed by Dr. Phil.

The gruesome acts of men take little skill
We march willfully toward the abyss
I know too well too much bacon will kill.

A bald pate cannot be cured by pill
At least that’s the latest analysis
A nation’s hair is groomed by Dr. Phil.

When no one is watching, deeply we drill
We have become our own worst nemesis
I know too well too much bacon will kill.

Human kindness suffers from deferral
All that remains are strands of avarice
A nation’s hair is groomed by Dr. Phil.

Our loss of love is damn kavan awful
So I named my pig Professor Promise
I know too well too much bacon will kill
A nation’s hair is groomed by Dr. Phil.