Mr. Speaker, there is no question that no one takes any pleasure, especially as an Atlantic Canadian, in seeing further reductions in the services of VIA Rail. No longer is there any service of any kind in the railroad sector in Newfoundland. There is no railroad activity in Prince Edward Island. Other parts of the country are deeply affected by the need to rationalize transportation services.
As we go through this process of developing an integrated, affordable national transportation system, undoubtedly there will be some major problems for employees and for users. We are trying to do the very best we can with the limited resources at hand, particularly taking into account the already tremendous burden on the Canadian taxpayer.