Mr. Chair, may I present and ask support for this motion?
At the beginning of the meeting you mentioned that this museum was in my area. Just for the record, it is not in my riding. It's important, because this is not about my constituency per se. It's not in my riding. It's not even in my region of Quebec, and to be honest, I didn't know that much about the museum until I was invited this summer for a visit. I was just amazed and bowled over by what I saw.
This, Mr. Chair, is one of the top five rail museums in the world. It is not a small museum. The breadth of its collection is extraordinary. It captures the history of rail in Canada. At one point it was considered for integration into the Canada Science and Technology Museum. This is an extraordinary asset and treasure for Canada.
If we invite representatives from this museum, we will be alerted to a very important situation, almost a crisis situation, with this museum. I would hate to see this museum take a step backwards in any way. I think the hearing could probably generate some information, some answers, and even some further questions in relation to the museum policy in general in Canada, maybe in relation to small museums as well.
I was amazed at what this museum offers. It's not just any kind of museum; it's a very unique situation, and I would ask that the committee take one session to hear representatives of the museum discuss the challenges they face in relation to their future.