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Thank you Mr. Speaker, this do-nothing budget fails to deal with long-standing problems
with rail safety. It also failed to protect passenger rail service through Atlantic Canada.
CN is selling off a section of track in New Brunswick, and that could effectively put
an end to passenger rail service to Halifax.
My question is, what is the government going to do? What are New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
MPs going to do to protect passenger rail service to Halifax through New Brunswick?
The Honourable Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I would invite the hon. member to look at a rail map, perhaps, so he can
see that there is more than one way to get from the Ontario-Quebec area into the Maritimes
and Atlantic Canada.
I would say this Mr. Speaker as well: VIA Rail is an independent company. It takes its
own business decisions and it takes its own decisions with respect to service levels and
routes.
CN is currently in a process, under the Canadian Transportation Agency, to divest of this rail.
We will see what happens with respect to this particular piece of rail, but no decisions
have been made.