Mr. Speaker, On December 9, I made a presentation before the Liberal task force on the Canadian National Railways system. It was a waste of my time.
It appears all too obvious that this task force is determined to make this the fourth Liberal government to bail CN out of its crippling financial debt load with the taxpayers' money. I watched in disgust as one witness was manipulated into saying what the task force wanted to hear. When CP Rail testified it turned into an inquisition.
The government should be neither subsidizing nor closing crown corporations. It should be privatizing them. Government involvement should be reduced to a regulatory role.
Major changes are needed for the survival of Canada's rail system. Free enterprise can do a far better job of determining the right steps to take than political or bureaucratic decision making ever can.
The decision to get out of the airport business is the right one. Why does the Liberal government not have the foresight to see that it is the right move for railways as well?