Mr. Speaker, I listened with intent to the member's dissertation.
I am very interested in the concept of high speed rail transportation for the Montreal-Toronto corridor because those rail systems would go through my riding. I have had some time to examine this.
One of the obvious problems is a matter of population density. It would appear in looking at similar rail systems in other countries-I think of Tokyo and of Paris-that these systems as well do not pay for themselves. We have just watched the recent unveiling of the London to Paris rail system which is encumbered with a huge debt that possibly will never be repaid.
The member spoke about privatization. I guess the question in the back of my mind is this. Is the current Canadian rail system viable as a private enterprise? If it is not viable in its entirety, then would he address breaking up the rail system into small parts and possibly abandoning the whole rail system in parts of Canada?
Is that what the member is proposing, that we break the rail system up, that if private industry decides it is not viable that we cannot get on a train in Toronto and go to British Columbia?