Friday, October, 10, 2014 - 3:03:26 PM Slater photo Speaking Thursday, Oct. 9 at the St. Marys VIA Rail station, researcher/writer/policy advisor Greg Gormick addresses the audience during the official launch of his new report, supported by the federal New Democrats and the Transport Action organization, about the state of passenger rail service in Canada. Report’s author encourages public to keep up fight on VIA Stew Slater St. Marys Journal Argus Writer/researcher/policy advisor Greg Gormick told a heart-wrenching story to an audience at the St. Marys VIA Rail station on Thursday, Oct. 9: An elderly woman in Mirimichi, NB, left with no options for visiting her husband — suffering from dementia and living in a nearby care centre — after VIA Rail decreased its Montreal-to-Halifax run from daily there-and-back to three-times-per-week, next-day-return service. Having given up driving, she was forced to go from spending hours with her husband daily and being back home in time for bed, to having to ask her neighbours and friends for the occasional ride to the next town down the line. Gormick, who was the main speaker as Transport Action Ontario (TAO) officially launched the findings of a report he authored about the state of passenger rail service in Canada, says the woman’s story is not isolated. Responding to an impassioned question from a woman in the audience about the limited transportation options open to people who choose not to drive in the Stratford-St. Marys area, he admitted the findings in his report are not positive. “When you’re forced to pull all the numbers and the statistics together and look at what’s happening, it’s very depressing,” Gormick said of the report’s findings regarding the declining level of service, stagnant investment, and corresponding declining ridership in recent years. TAO President Peter Miasek, who also spoke at the report’s launch, agreed, saying Gormick’s research ended up “tracking, unfortunately, (passenger rail service’s) steady decline.” Speaking to the Journal Argus after the launch — which featured an introduction by St. Marys businessperson Chris West, chair of the local Save VIA grassroots organization; a few words of support from St. Marys Mayor Steve Grose; and a round of thank yous from St. Marys Councillor Carey Pope, a strong supporter of the Save VIA cause —Miasek said the report, entitled “Out of Steam: The Urgent Need to Modernize VIA Rail Canada,” was paid for by the federal New Democratic Party. “We expect, at the very least, that the NDP will raise the concerns in the report, as well as the possible options set out in the report, in Parliament,” Miasek said. He stressed, however, that based on both Gormick’s and TAO’s conversations around Ottawa, the possibility of support from members of other parties is strong. And this point was echoed by Gormick as he introduced his report; the independent Toronto-based researcher cited a number of MPs with which he has had contact over the years who have expressed agreement with his ongoing efforts to encourage the federal government to re-invest in VIA Rail equipment, infrastructure, and increased scheduling. Specific to the north main line between Toronto and London, via Stratford and St. Marys, he suggested the purchase of eight new sets double-decker passenger cars similar to those employed by US carrier AMTRAK, as well as minor improvements to the rails to allow for higher speeds, would cost approximately $200 million. He argues this would improve service, ridership, and the attractiveness of the rail option sufficiently to ensure “that investment would pay for itself in cost reductions in 10 years.” Indeed, it’s these ongoing expressions of support — not just from politicians, but also from people within the rail industry and, most importantly, from the public in the communities served by passenger rail — that keep him invigorated to continue the fight. A branch of the family of late Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, he noted, were railroad workers in Mirimichi, and the current federal government initially made statements in support of expanded passenger service. Unfortunately, Gormick suggested, the VIA Rail president “seemed to be building a case for why (the federal government-funded company) should be eliminated.” More recently, a new president “is again trying to build a case for expanding VIA.” And, on the provincial front, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has stated publicly she would like to see expanded passenger rail in the province, and would be willing to entertain provincial government funding for projects if the federal government remains inactive. Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina, a former radio personality who began his career in 1965 at Stratford’s CJCS but before that considered a career on the rails, is another politician who’s supportive of Gormick’s work. Bratina was also in attendance at the report’s launch in St. Marys, and he joined with the author/researcher in praising the Save VIA group for being at the forefront of the struggle. Gormick said the decision to launch the report in St. Marys was calculated. It’s a community, after all, that has experienced the effects of VIA cutbacks, having gone from five daily round trips to and from Toronto in 1977 to just two currently. And, unlike a community like Kitchener, without VIA Rail, there would be no options at all for out-of-town transport for a St. Marys resident who either doesn’t drive, wishes to minimize the environmental impact of their travels by leaving the car at home, or simply wishes to avoid the ever-increasing traffic gridlock of the 400-series highways. And, as Gormick noted repeatedly, the current state of affairs is not positive. “The point we’re at now is that the supposed ‘railway country’ has a service that’s distinctly inferior to what’s in place in the United States,” he said. “We do not have a national rail strategy, which is what they have in the United States . . . and what they have in all of the developed nations against which we compete.” On more than one occasion as well, though, Gormick also urged the audience, “don’t give up the fight.” Even if it’s a municipal council passing a resolution, or visiting the Save VIA website and signing an online petition calling for an end to VIA cutbacks, he stressed the efforts of concerned citizens is having an effect. “I will be taking the message from St. Marys to other communities that we’re not done yet. And we need your support to help get that message through.”
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 01:12:20 +0000
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