Madam Speaker, hearing the member for Carleton-Gloucester on the profitability of the trunk line, which my colleague from Roberval wants to save from destruction, from being scrapped, I was reminded that some people have never travelled to the regions. Some people have never seen what an isolated region of Canada is.
I am from the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region where the Chibougamau-Chapais area is located and I can tell you that this region is 150 years old. The first settlers used axes and two-handed saws to clear the land in the hope of finding some future north of Quebec City. These people worked like slaves and never stopped fighting to open up the area to the rest of the world and to get means of transportation. They fought to obtain a road from Charlevoix to Chicoutimi. They fought for a rail line from Quebec City to Chicoutimi and Roberval. They fought for the Chibougamau road and for a road from Chicoutimi to Sacré-Coeur on the North Shore. More recently, they fought for the road to the Far North which gives us access to the development of the great dams being built in northern Quebec.
Today, they tell us they will close part of a rail line in the Chibougamau region. Of course that line is not being used at the moment. There is a recession, our mines are closed, our miners are unemployed and they are cutting their benefits so these people will now have to resort to welfare. They are closing the doors to the future for these people; they tell them their railroad is worthless, it is not profitable it will be closed and that they will make $5 million by selling the metal. It is the answer of a scrap dealer.