Transport Committee on March 11th, 2026

[Mathieu Paquette]

The answer is yes, but I can't confirm that the service will be similar to what we used to provide.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

What options are you exploring for restoring service?

[Mathieu Paquette]

As I said, we are at the drawing board. We're looking at various factors.

We used to have service between Matapedia and Gaspé, and the service was connected to the Ocean train. I can't tell whether it will be the same type of service, but that is definitely an option. It could be a daily service between Quebec City and Gaspésie, but as I said, there are several options.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Another option could be a daytime train service departing from Port‑Daniel—Gascons or New Carlisle to Quebec City, for example.

Is that in your plans?

[Mathieu Paquette]

Yes, that could be one option. Again, we only own 3% of the tracks we operate on, which means that it all depends on agreements with the owners of the infrastructure that allows us to operate our trains.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

You want to look at the state of train stations on your next visit to Gaspésie.

Am I correct?

And may I add that you are more than welcome, Mr. Paquette. Ms. St‑Onge and I will be there to receive you and so too will Mr. Éric Dubé from the Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie.

[Mathieu Paquette]

We need to do that. As I said, the passenger rail ecosystem is more complex than it would appear.

For us, the safety and well-being of passengers doesn't simply start or end when they board or disembark from the train. We spoke about winter conditions, for example. We can't leave people on a platform during a winter storm or in extreme temperatures.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

I understand that you can't give a date, Mr. Paquette, and so I won't ask you for one. However, what time frame are we looking at for the first VIA Rail train to be back on the tracks to Gaspésie?

[Mathieu Paquette]

Again, I can't comment on that, but there is a willingness to get there. We are at the drawing board and we will keep you up to date.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Paquette and Mr. Deschênes.

Next we'll go to Mr. Bélanger.

Mr. Bélanger, the floor is yours. You have five minutes, sir.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the committee for allowing me to raise some of my concerns here today.

Thank you to the witnesses.

I represent many rural and remote communities in northern Ontario that rely on passenger rail to access essential services, including specialized care at Health Sciences North in Sudbury.

Via Rail is a federally owned Crown corporation funded by Canadian taxpayers. Its mandate is to provide reliable passenger rail service to rural and remote communities. Would we agree that the Sudbury-White River line is representative of such communities?

[Mathieu Paquette]

Absolutely. I had the opportunity in my previous life to spend a lot of time in your region. In Sudbury, I was in the mining industry for 15 years.

I want to be clear. Our mandate is to focus on what we can control and to improve our services. We have to make sure that our trains are leaving stations on time, that the fleet reliability is where it should be and that people get to their destinations without incident. When there's an incident or things are not going as planned, our focus should be on passenger care and well-being.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

I am glad we've established that it's an essential service for us in the north. I'm glad to hear your willingness to improve performance, reliability and customer service.

Now I'm going to talk specifically about line 185-186. It's a great opportunity for you to do that very easily. Customer service and reliability come down to money a lot of the time. How is this line funded?

[Mathieu Paquette]

We receive public funding. Via Rail is an essential service. You touched on it, and it remains for many Canadians the only option when it comes to a transportation mode.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

We have established that this line from Sudbury to White River is a remote access and that we should fund it.

I have something here that says that the Sudbury to White River train does not receive direct funding from the federal remote passenger rail program. I am asking why that is, because that program just received $63 million for the next three years. We have a big reliability issue with the Budd cars going from Sudbury to White River.

[Mathieu Paquette]

I would ask my colleague Denis Lavoie to answer this question.

[Denis Lavoie]

I don't know if it's going to answer your specific question, but today Via Rail is going through two major procurement processes to renew the fleet we have across the country outside of the Quebec-Windsor corridor. Sudbury-White River is part of that procurement process.

As we speak, we are renewing what we call the LDRR fleet, long-distance, regional and remote, and there will be brand new trains for that specific segment of Sudbury-White River.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

Do we know when that is coming?

[Denis Lavoie]

We're in the midst of the procurement processes. We will award the contract in the coming months, and then the design and manufacturing of those trains will start. It will take a couple of years.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

I fear that the train we have now in Sudbury is not going to last that long. It breaks down often. I believe the train is to run on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Sudbury to White River, and it comes back to Sudbury the next day. Mondays the train is idle, but last January-February, the train was shut down for almost a month. We call it an essential service, but there is no backup plan. There's no other service available.

Just to compare.... I want to be the voice for the north, and it's very important. It seems there is a two-tier system of service. If we go back to the incident you had in Brockville in December, you made an apology, you made plans for people to get to their destination and so on. When the White River train is cancelled, this is what people get. I quote—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Mr. Bélanger, I am going to ask you to ask your question. You're over time, but I want you to ask your question before I provide the floor to another member.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

Am I out of time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Yes, sir, but I am giving you an opportunity to ask a question.

[Jim Belanger, Conservative, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt, ON]

Do we have a plan? Okay, forget that.

I used to be in the transportation business. I had to provide a service from point A to point B. If I couldn't provide that service, I had a backup plan. We don't have one in Sudbury. What are we going to do about that?

Are you able to present a plan for Sudbury-White River that will be reliable and consistent?

[Mathieu Paquette]

We will present a plan.