First of all, I'd like to thank the honourable member for his service as parliamentary secretary in this role and the leadership that he provided, certainly, before I came into the role as minister.
I want to say a couple of things. First, at a high level, I want to contrast the investments that we have made as a government in Via Rail to replace its aging fleet—$490 million in 2021, $354 million in 2022, $210 million in 2023, and in 2024, funding a new fleet—with the investments of the Conservative Party of Canada: 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013—zero dollars invested. Since taking office, our government has invested over $797 million in replacing the corridor fleet, so I will say that we have evidenced a commitment to Via Rail as a whole.
I know that the honourable member is very concerned, and rightly so, with supply chain resiliency, and I appreciate his work on that matter. The national trade corridors fund is a trade-enabling infrastructure program. It helps infrastructure owners and users to invest in critical assets that support economic activity and the physical movement of goods and people, so to date our government has approved $4.1 billion in federal funding for 213 projects across the country, leveraging a total investment of $10.7 billion.
The answer to your question, then, is yes, it is important.