Evidence of meeting #106 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was highway.
A video is available from Parliament.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
We're interested because, as you know, it concerns public transit.
The ideal would obviously be to reduce road traffic and change modes of travel.
I live on the Quebec side too and had to deal with traffic this morning.
11:20 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
I say that because the Quebec government, the Société de transport de l'Outaouais, or STO, and the City of Gatineau are committed. The federal government is the only missing player.
We're really eager to see it happen.
11:20 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
I understand that it's coming. Will it be—
11:20 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
—tomorrow morning? Will it be in the next few days?
It's already been several months.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
You're in a hurry, aren't you?
We've committed to conducting studies. Quebec has also committed to conducting studies, but no overall funding has been set aside for the moment.
11:25 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
That's right. We want to see the money for the studies.
11:25 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?
11:25 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
That's good.
I have another question about public transit, since we're discussing alternatives to roads.
I'm very much interested in a project that has been talked about recently. It's often said that there's no alternative to cars in the regions, but there actually is one, whether it be in Gaspésie, Bas‑Saint‑Laurent, Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean, Abitibi or even Mauricie, and that's Via Rail's trains.
Unfortunately, most of those trains date back to the 1940s or 1950s. Their cars are falling apart. We even hear that service breaks could occur in the near future. We need massive investment in Via Rail's trains for the regions. Trains as old as my grandfather. That's really something.
Could your government decide to invest in that area? Could it decide to renew the fleet to prevent service breaks in the coming years?
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
That's an excellent question. We're entirely up to speed on this file, and I'm exercising a lot of pressure to come up with funding.
It would be good if you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, and others could help me and talk to my colleague so we can make a significant investment in those locomotives. It's true that they're quite old now.
That's one thing we would like to do as a government, but it's honestly very costly in the current context. We would nevertheless like to go ahead.
And we are moving ahead—
11:25 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
But you know that the procurement process takes approximately 10 years and that there's less than 10 years of useful life in those cars.
So can you—
11:25 a.m.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
So can you guarantee that there'll be no service breaks and that people in the regions will have a service, which could also be improved? I say that because we agree that the present service isn't very good.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
We've spoken with train builders, experts in the field.
Honestly, just this morning, I spoke with people who work in the train industry. They tell us there really are ways to repair the trains.
In addition, the direction that train transportation will take is currently a topic of debate. For the moment, the industry operates on diesel, but people are wondering whether we should immediately switch everything over and buy back diesel locomotives or wait a little longer and buy hybrid locomotives that can operate partly on diesel and partly on electricity from either a grid or batteries.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.
Mr. Bachrach, the floor is yours for six minutes, please.
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister.
This discussion today is, in large part, about the balance between investing in highway infrastructure and investing in public transportation. That's how your government has framed it. There are a lot of concerns around public transportation.
I represent a rural riding in northern British Columbia, and people there who don't own cars have fewer transportation options than they have had, I would say, in the last 50 years. We've lost Greyhound entirely from our country, and our passenger train service, in many parts of the country, is on life-support.
Your government has headed down this path of building a new passenger rail system between Toronto and Quebec City and has essentially privatized that corridor. Before you object to the word “privatization”, I think that when a private consortium designs, finances, builds and operates a rail system, that is essentially de facto privatization.
That corridor, as you know very well, is currently contributing 95% of Via Rail's revenue across the country, so when it comes to passenger revenue, the corridor is very important to the long-term success of Via Rail. In the area I represent, those funds are needed to ensure that the train continues to run and that we actually expand that service in the future.
How is Via Rail going to maintain its long-distance routes across the country using only 5% of the revenue?
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
The train you're referring to is going to play a major role, because we want to change
people's behaviour.
It's a huge chunk. I don't know what the percentage is of travellers from Quebec City to Toronto—
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Minister, just wait. I'm asking about British Columbia. How is the train between—
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
We're tackling that part, because that's where the biggest chunk of travellers is. However, we're very aware that there are needs elsewhere, and we're very aware, as I said at the beginning, that it's a different challenge for people who live in regions. Not everyone lives in Montreal and Toronto, and happily so.
We have to look at other eventual steps in terms of investing in railways and connections, in the same way we're doing with this one. However, with this one, the percentage of the population that lives right there is huge.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Okay, I'll interpret that as your willingness to support Via Rail's long-distance routes financially.
Via Rail has very clearly stated to your government that the first priority, in terms of investment, is renewal of the actual fleet. Canada, right now, is running some of the oldest train sets in the world. These are train cars that are over 70 years old. The mechanics can't keep them running forever. Via Rail's CEO has told us very clearly that if there isn't a commitment in this year's budget to renewal of the long-distance fleet, we're going to lose those routes. These train cars aren't going to last forever, and within 10 years, they won't be serviceable anymore.
Is your government willing to commit to buying new trains for the long-distance routes so that we don't lose train service in areas like the one I represent in northern B.C., along with the Canadian, which goes from Toronto to Vancouver, and the train up to Churchill? All of these routes are extremely old rolling stock. Are you willing to commit to the renewal of those fleets?