Mr. Speaker, I can go along with the minister's decision not to accept CP's offer but not the part that states the government is not prepared to entertain any further offers for the sale of CN Rail.
The formation of CN Rail began in 1917 when numerous small rail companies found themselves in severe financial trouble. The root cause of the rail industry problem even then was an excess of trackage. Once formed, CN commenced an aggressive program of expansion, despite evidence that there was already excessive trackage in Canada. In order to compete CP Rail was forced to expand as well. The results were inevitable.
In 1937 CN's debts were a major problem so the government of the day cancelled them. It was a Liberal government. No one addressed excess trackage which resulted in CN again finding itself in severe financial trouble in 1952. Once again the government of the day entered the picture and bailed them out. Once again the government of the day was Liberal. Still no one addressed the problem of excess trackage.
During the next two decades CN, despite losses of approximately $25 million a year, continued capital spending of up to $200 million a year. The results were once again inevitable. Enter the government in 1978 with yet another bail-out and, yes, once again it was a Liberal government.
It appears the latest Liberal government is now prepared to be the fourth to bail a government company out of trouble so that it can compete with a public company using the taxpayers' money as a subsidy. That is not acceptable.
A task force to study this, made up of only Liberal members who have an obvious political agenda to maintain this unviable rail company, is not acceptable.
Yesterday I made a statement in the House indicating my expectation of the government's position based on my observations of the task force in action. The task force had a predetermined policy and only went forth to manipulate people into accepting it.
The only solution to Canada's rail problem is the privatization of CN. Whether it is sold as a whole entity or sold in part is not the issue. After almost 80 years of problems it is time for the government to butt out. Government interference causes rather than resolves problems. Reduce government's role to a regulatory position and allow the marketplace to resolve the problem. They will do a far better job than politicians and bureaucrats ever could.