Minister of Transportation of visit NB before making decision on rail funds JENNIFER BISHOP Northern Light April 21, 2014 Yvon Godin Photo: The Northern Light Archives Various groups and organizations are working to ensure parliament knows the need for rail between Bathurst and Miramichi. “If we lose Via Rail in this part of New Brunswick we know that we will lose it right from Halifax to Quebec City,” said Yvon Godin, MP for Acadie-Bathurst. A number of months ago, the provincial government mad an announcement for a $25 million investment into rail in the province, CN Rail is planning to invest $30 million and those two parties are waiting to hear if the federal government will invest their $10 million share. The $10 million would save the rail line between Bathurst and Miramichi. “The (federal) government said they were not in the rail business – that’s not true,” said Godin. “They invest money, over $500 million in Ontario since 2008 on the rail between Toronto and Montreal.” Godin said for the most part the only company that uses the line between Bathurst and Miramichi is Via Rail unless there is a derailment or an issue on another line. Association of Francophone Municipalities of New Brunswick and the Union of Municipalities of Quebec formed a coalition and met in Campbellton around mid-March. “The lower Saint Lawrence area are going to be affected also if there’s interruption with the Via service so they were there with us,” said Luc Desjardins, first vice-president of the association. The group decided they wanted to meet with Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transportation and were given the opportunity on April 10. Desjardins said the group also met with other MP’s from New Brunswick as well as senators and others. Godin said he requested the minister meet with the representatives of those groups. “I set up the meeting and I told the association to get their people up there,” said Godin. “They came out with a small delegation.” Desjardins said the coalition brought forward two main arguments. The first is the need for passenger transportation not only Bathurst but Atlantic Canada. “It’s not only a national symbol but it’s also very important for a lot of people who travel for medical reasons,” he said. He said another issue the coalition sees with Via Rail is the company’s lack of marketing. The coalition feels if more effort was put into the company’s marketing it would see a higher number of users. The second point made to Raitt was the importance of having an alternate train track for transporting goods. Desjardins said to remove the stretch of rail would mean businesses would have to spend more money to transport their goods by rail if the goods had to take a longer route. When the delegation brought their concerns forward to Raitt, Godin said she was very interested in the points the group brought forward and now plans to look into it further. “The result was, she said she was very interested in what they were saying and she wanted to know more about the community and what the community feel about it – the other mayors,” said Godin. Although there is no set date for the meeting, Godin and Desjardins said Raitt will visit the mayors of New Brunswick as well as those of Quebec to hear their concerns about losing the section of rail between Bathurst and Miramichi. Desjardins said the minister made it known there would likely not be any decision made if the $10 million will be spent until she has the meeting with the mayors. “(The meeting) was positive in a way because it means the file is not closed, it’s still a process in the works in Ottawa,” he said. Godin said he had meetings with Sean Finn, vice-president of CN Rail, the week before the meeting with Raitt, who Godin felt also had good news. “(Finn said) ‘we don’t want the rail, we want an investment of $10 million, we will get the repair done, we will do the maintenance for the next 15 years , same as the other rail’,” Godin said of the meeting. Godin said he plans to continue to talk to the government about the possible loss of the rail and keep pushing for the issue to be resolved. “If people are not sure if the train is going to stay or not, they’re going to start buying their tickets someplace else,” he said. “We need that the government make up their mind and make a decision – a positive decision.”
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:08:19 +0000
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