Mr. Speaker, on the question of VIA nothing could be further from the truth than what the member has just said. This government has not announced any service cutbacks to VIA nor will it until the negotiations are finalized.
I want to deal with the specific question of May 12, 1994 regarding the possible requirement for an amendment to the National Transportation Act to allow for the continuation of VIA passenger operations over the lines of a provincial shortline railway.
CP has narrowed down its list of potential new operators for its Canadian Atlantic railway lines to two: Cantrak and Guilford. Although I am not privy to CP's plans, we have all heard that CP may be announcing the successful finalist sometime in June.
Details about a conveyance agreement between CP and the new operator are unknown to this government at this time. If an agreement is reached and filed with the National Transportation Agency before the end of 1994 when the abandonment order
takes effect, then the agreement information becomes public and will shed light on the issue of federal-provincial jurisdiction.
With an agreement being filed, the agency as required under the National Transportation Act would have up to six months to approve the conveyance agreement, if it is in the public interest and if the purchaser is authorized to operate a railway.
If no agreement is filed before January 1995, then the Canadian rail line segments which have been approved for abandonment would no longer come under federal jurisdiction. In this case the contents of the conveyance agreement would become known if CP Limited chose to reveal any of this information. Hence we may not know until then whether or not the new operator will come under the legislative authority of Parliament or under provincial jurisdiction.
At the present time VIA operates over CP lines under a train service agreement. The NTA provides protection of existing VIA passenger service in the event that the conveyance by vesting any obligations related to VIA services with the new owner of the conveyed line. Under these circumstances accommodation for VIA would have to be built into an agreement between CP and the rail company to which the lines are conveyed.
The National Transportation Act would not prevent VIA from operating over the lines of a rail company that is not within the legislative authority of Parliament. After all, VIA currently operates over trackage through Maine which is under U.S. federal jurisdiction.
In closing, owing to the speculative nature of the question and lack of a clear demonstration that legislative amendments or other changes will be required at this time, I can only reiterate the minister's assurance to the hon. member for Saint John. The government will expedite legislative changes or other regulatory modifications if and when they are required to accommodate good passenger and freight railway service in New Brunswick and the rest of Atlantic Canada.