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Red Emma’s

Bruce Campbell presents “The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied"

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Wednesday, January 9th 2019

7:00 pm

Red Emma's

The 2013 Lac-Mégantic crude oil train disaster killed 47 people and destroyed a entire Quebec town: this new book uncovers new details about what happened, how it happened, who was responsible, and why it can happen again. Crude-by-rail traffic is an urgent issue at the intersection of climate change, workers rights, and public safety and it's been a big topic of debate in Baltimore for years. Earlier this year, the City Council passed a bill banning new crude oil terminals in the city, but crude oil trains continue to pose a danger to the city, particularly as we see the repeated failures of our infrastructure such as the most recent 26th St collapse. Co-sponsored by CCAN, Railroad Workers United, and Clean Water Action

The July 6, 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster is a tragedy unparalleled in Canadian history. It resulted in major loss of life, massive environmental destruction and the evisceration of a small Quebec town. Blame landed squarely on the shoulders of three front-line employees of the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railway Company. But a jury acquitted them.Lac-Mégantic is the story of a rail industry writing its own rules, a booming US oil industry based on fracking, fighting any obstacles to selling their dangerous product, and a rogue US railway operator cutting corners to make his fortune.At another level the story is about a federal government blinded by its own free market ideology, fixated on making Canada an energy superpower, and compliant bureaucrats failing to protect the public interest.At the heart of it all is a small, tight-knit community torn apart and struggling to recover. There is unimaginable loss, broken lives and families, and individual and collective trauma. But there is also healing, solidarity, commemoration, remembrance, and the determination to rebuild and transcend.This book uncovers the truth about Lac-Mégantic. It includes first person interviews with many of the key players, analysis of the corporate executives and the companies involved, an examination of the complex world of transport safety regulation in Canada, and an account of the trials of the three accused.

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