Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being back at committee and answering our questions.
I would like to pick up on the high-frequency rail conversation. Your government is forging ahead with this project, based on a concept that seems to be receiving less and less support from prominent circles in Canada. People want high-speed rail. High-speed rail has a specific definition. Other countries have trains that go over 300 kilometres an hour, and they've had them for decades. We're way behind the rest of the world when it comes to passenger rail, yet we have a proposal in front of us for Canada's busiest rail corridor that incrementally improves the speed of the service.
I note that there was a resolution from the City of Toronto and the City of Montreal. The mayor of Quebec City has come out, pleading for high-speed rail. Now I see in Le Devoir that there's an article about a dozen prominent members of the Quebec City business community asking for a high-speed train. They want the best-in-the-world service, so that the economy and the quality of life for this region of Canada....
Granted, I come from British Columbia. Rail there is even farther behind what we see in eastern Canada.
We have an opportunity here for the most densely populated region of Canada to catch up to the rest of the G7, to deliver the kind of high-speed service that will get people out of their cars and will stop people from flying these short-haul flights that pollute so much.
I wonder, in the face of all these calls from prominent corners of the business community and municipalities, whether proper high-speed rail is on the table in these conversations that you're having with proponents.