Thank you, Minister.
The other challenge with this project is that your government refuses to build it publicly to expand the mandate of our public passenger rail provider to build and operate a new, modern, high-speed rail service. There are a lot of questions. I see a press release here from Unifor and their members who currently work on the trains, and they're opposed to privatization.
This is Canada's busiest rail corridor. It accounts for upwards of 90% of Via Rail's revenue. You said earlier that this project is going to allow Via to focus on its core responsibilities. I would find that offensive if I were Via Rail. Their core responsibility is running passenger trains. It's like saying to a baker, “We don't need you to come into the bakery from Monday to Thursday. We want you to focus on your core responsibilities.” The core responsibility is to deliver passenger rail services.
The expression of interest that you put out there to the private sector takes away potentially 90% of Via Rail's revenue. What's left? It's the guts and feathers of passenger rail in Canada, and it will lead to, I believe, the death of Via Rail as our public passenger rail provider. That's something that nobody in our country wants to see—well, maybe a few people on the Conservative side of the aisle.
Certainly there are a lot of people in the country who want to see a strong and vibrant passenger rail provider that's public. Why not include that in the scope of the project?