Vol. 79/No. 46 December 21, 2015
Rail workers in Quebec win support
against gov’t frame-up
LAC-MÉGANTIC, Quebec — A court here Dec. 1 postponed making any decisions and set an April 4 hearing to hear pretrial motions in the Canadian government’s frame-up case against locomotive engineer Tom Harding and train controller Richard Labrie, members of the Steelworkers union. Along with former company manager Jean Demaitre, the two rail unionists face possible life in prison on 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death. All three have pled not guilty.
The trumped-up charges are part of efforts by the government and rail bosses to scapegoat the workers for the July 6, 2013, derailment and explosion of a 72-car Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway oil train in Lac-Mégantic that killed 47 people.
Harding, the only crew on the train because of a special dispensation from Transport Canada to protect the company’s profits, parked the train in Nantes, uphill from Lac-Mégantic, with the engine running to power the air brakes and setting a number of handbrakes, per company practice. After he left a fire broke out on the engine, and firemen turned it off. A company official said everything was OK.
When the brakes ran down, the train rolled and derailed in downtown Lac-Mégantic.
Several members of the Citizens and Community Groups Rail Safety Coalition, which organized the Oct. 11 March for Rail Safety of almost 1,000 people here, came to the hearing to demonstrate solidarity with Harding and Labrie. “It’s not them, but government and company officials who are responsible,” André Lachapelle of the Sécu-Rail Committee told the Militant in an interview before the hearing.
Christiane Filteau, Demaitre’s lawyer, announced that she would propose that the trial be moved out of Lac-Mégantic, arguing it isn’t possible to get a fair trial in the town of 6,000 because almost everyone was touched by the 2013 disaster.
Thomas Walsh, Harding’s lawyer, told the judge his client wants to be judged “here in Lac-Mégantic.”
Many in the town believe Harding shouldn’t be on trial at all. “It’s not Harding and Labrie who are guilty, but the company officials in Boston and officials in the Ministry of Transport that should be charged,” Jacques Breton, mayor of Nantes, told the Militant the night before the hearing.
Breton works at the Bestar furniture manufacturing plant in Lac-Mégantic and was recently elected president of the Unifor Local 299 union at the plant. He served as a marshal at the Oct. 11 demonstration.
“Tom Harding is a hero; he risked his life that night. It’s not right he be made a scapegoat for the tragedy,” Elisabeth Rodrique told the Militant. She and her husband Marc own and operate a small motel in Woburn, a town of 700 people 20 miles south of Lac-Mégantic. “Harding and Labrie deserve support.”
Last spring the prosecution decided to go directly to a trial without the usual preliminary hearing, depriving the defense the opportunity to hear the government’s basis for their charges. “I plan to petition the court to make the crown state its case,” Walsh said. “All parties are interested in knowing the facts the prosecution claims back up its charges.”
Walsh said he will move for a separate trial for Harding. The continuous postponements in the case mean it’s unlikely the trial will take place before the fall of 2016 or sometime in 2017, he said.
In a special pre-federal election autumn edition of the USW District 5 magazine Métallo (Steelworker) the union said the federal government bears responsibility for the Lac-Mégantic disaster. “Adding insult to injury,” an article said, the government is trying to lay the blame on “two ordinary workers, members of USW Local 1976, who face serious criminal charges.”
Solidarity messages for the Tom Harding and Richard Labrie defense should be sent to their union, USW 1976 / Section locale 1976, 2360 De Lasalle, Suite 202, Montreal, QC H1V 2L1. Email: info@1976usw.ca. Copies should be sent to: Thomas Walsh, Lawyer, 165 Rue Wellington N. Suite 310, Sherbrooke, QC Canada J1H 5B9. Email: thomaspwalsh@hotmail.com
Contributions can be sent in Canada to Syndicat des Métallos, 565, boulevard Crémazie Est, bureau 5100, Montreal, QC H2M 2V8. In the U.S. checks can be sent to Tom Harding Defense Fund, First Niagara Bank, 25 McClellan Drive, Nassau, NY 12123.
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
Russian truck drivers protest crippling tax
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home