{"id":674731,"date":"2026-05-17T03:21:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674731\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T03:21:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T03:21:43","slug":"canadian-pacific-cleared-of-all-liability-in-lac-megantic-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/674731\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Pacific cleared of all liability in Lac-M\u00e9gantic tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"display:block\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/resizer\/v2\/7PJSYZFGBBC55G4WGUI3AFYOWA.JPG?auth=89c9b8eb133ba2d169b127c8432b9d36e90b5dad316e376fca70d10b0b2db023&amp;width=600&amp;height=400&amp;quality=80&amp;smart=true\" aria-haspopup=\"true\" data-photo-viewer-index=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"figcap-text\">Damaged rail containers and twisted wreckage on the main road through downtown Lac-M\u00e9gantic, Que. on July 7, 2013, a day after a train carrying crude oil tankers derailed and burst into flames.Moe Doiron\/Moe Doiron\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Canadian Pacific Railway Company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/investing\/markets\/stocks\/CP-T\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/investing\/markets\/stocks\/CP-T\/\">CP-T<\/a> has been cleared of all liability in the Lac-M\u00e9gantic, Que., train disaster that claimed 47 lives in 2013.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Several parties, including the victims and their families, were attempting to sue the rail carrier for its role in the disaster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">But the Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal after the railway company prevailed in Superior Court and the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">On July 6, 2013, a runaway train derailed in the heart of Lac-M\u00e9gantic, with its oil tankers causing a massive explosion that reduced the downtown to ashes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text mv-16 l-inset text-pb-8\" data-sophi-feature=\"interstitial\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/canada\/article-advocate-calls-for-better-rail-safety-on-12th-anniversary-of-lac\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Advocate calls for better rail safety on 12th anniversary of Lac-M\u00e9gantic disaster<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Under an agreement between various parties, a $460-million compensation fund had been established for victims, their families, and creditors of the Montreal Maine &amp; Atlantic Railway \u2013 the bankrupt company that had operated the train.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Canadian Pacific \u2013 which became Canadian Pacific Kansas City in 2023 \u2013 had refused to pay into the fund, saying it bore no responsibility for the tragedy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">The plaintiffs had argued that CP, which shipped the oil from North Dakota to New Brunswick, failed to inform Montreal, Maine &amp; Atlantic Railway that the oil it was transporting on the final leg of the journey had been improperly labelled.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">As is custom, the country\u2019s highest court did not provide reasons for its decision not to consider the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Damaged rail containers and twisted wreckage on the main road through downtown Lac-M\u00e9gantic,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,1008,66],"class_list":["post-674731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-pleasemod","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}