Mr. Speaker, in 1991, the Ontario-Quebec rapid train task force agreed it would be appropriate to establish a rapid train service in the Quebec-Windsor corridor. The task force did a very thorough preliminary feasibility study, listing the many economic spin-offs connected with the project.
The present Prime Minister's chief of staff, former Quebec City mayor Jean Pelletier, was the co-signer of this report. The task force also held wide ranging public consultations, in the course of which intervenors stressed that cities in the corridor would have to become more efficient if they were to succeed in a competitive market.
My question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister. Could she tell me what she would prefer: spend taxpayers money to proceed with the abandonment of railway lines or spend it on an innovative project that would create jobs, jobs, jobs and increase our exports of technology to the United States?