It is clear in my mind that railways are not part of the local road system. The situation has to be considered from a provincial or Canadian standpoint. We want the railways to be significantly upgraded because we believe in the railway sector over the long term. If we remove trucks from the roads to promote rail transport, we may wonder whether we should stop investing in the Trans-Canada Highway. Since transporting goods by rail helps reduce the number of trucks on the roads, I think the provincial and federal governments could provide their share of assistance. However, I am not necessarily in a position to say where the resources for those upgrades should come from. The essential point, in my view, is that it be done.
If we believe in the railway sector, we must spend time upgrading the railways rather than think we can avoid it by reducing speeds to 10 miles an hour. We do not lower speed limits on inadequate roads; we do the necessary work. However, we have not reached that point in the railway sector. We still consider reducing speeds on one section, then on the next section, and that ultimately extends over kilometres.
I am also somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of characterizing a railway as being of different sizes depending on who owns it. Since Canada borders on the United States from one end of the country to the other, a line is often characterized as short, whereas I do not think that is appropriate. The MMA line running from Montreal into the United States should not be called a short line. It was not considered a short line when CP owned it, but that is what it is called now that MMA is the owner. Something is not right here. This is not logical. The line cannot be characterized as long or short depending on its owner. That is not right. It should all be on the same level.
People bought houses knowing that CP's rails passed through the place and that there was a given level of safety. However, the value of those houses fell the day a financial transaction took place. Valuations can even decline because the level of safety is no longer the same. However, that is not right.
That is a point that should be considered in connection with lines and people's safety.