Madam Speaker, I had just started to make my remarks a few moments before two o'clock. Before I got into full flight I was interrupted for question period. I want to resume where I left off by applauding the Minister of Transport for bringing forward Bill C-101.
Bill C-101 is there to modernize Canada's transportation system. This task has not been easy to undertake but this minister is up to it. He is certainly someone who is not afraid of these challenges and of dealing with issues involving our transportation sector. Transport is one of the largest if not the largest departments of the Government of Canada.
The constituency of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell has a number of rail lines running through it. The Ottawa to Montreal CN rail line obviously runs through through Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. Perhaps I should not say obviously but virtually the only way of getting between the two cities is to travel through my riding. The train goes through such communities as Alexandria, Maxville and others between Ottawa and Montreal.
Some years ago I was very concerned because of a fear that CN would attempt to close down the rail line between Ottawa and Montreal.
This fear was justified as one CN document called for the closing of the rail line between the communities of Glen Robertson and Ottawa in Ontario, so that there would no longer have been a railway line for VIA passenger trains between Ottawa and Montreal, except if VIA had wanted to acquire the line abandoned by CN.
The second concern in my constituency was that if the line was abandoned there would not be enough interest or possibility of converting part of what was left of that line into a short line railroad.
This was particularly disconcerting at the time because we had at one point an NDP government in Ontario, although luckily we are rid of it now. I invite my colleague from Winnipeg to listen to this attentively because he will realize the damage that government was doing in Ontario.
It passed the successor rights bill. If someone wanted to start a short line railroad, if the previous company had four people doing the job-it did not matter that it only needed one to do the task in that short four, five or ten-mile piece of railroad-that person was forced to hire the amount of people who were there under the previous regime because of those so-called successor rights.
This was done probably in good faith in an attempt to protect jobs. What the government was really doing was making everybody lose their jobs because if the short line railroad was not viable, it could not be operated at all. Therefore everyone lost their employment rather than some of them keeping it.
Maybe that made sense at the time or prima facie may have made sense. Maybe it was some dictate from the socialist agenda and seemed reasonable in that respect.
In any case, there could not be a short line railroad in Ontario. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, who is very knowledgeable on these issues, will be discussing this issue with the member for Winnipeg, Bird's Hill and will be briefing him and straightening him out so that he fully understands this issue. I have good reason to believe he is doing that as we speak.
The bill we have today will address a number of issues. It will address provincial running rights. It will address rail line rationalization and short line railways, as I have been discussing, rail transportation issues generally, and economic regulation regarding grain and rail. VIA Rail issues will be addressed along with mergers and acquisition, air transport and a number of other important topics related to the transport industry.
I end by expressing a note of sadness regarding one issue. I know the member for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke shares my view in this. He and I have discussed this issue before.
A couple of years ago there were plans whereby CN and CP wanted to jointly own the rail line linking Coteau junction and a location in northern Ontario, the Montreal to North Bay rail line.
Now I notice that negotiations between CN and CP broke off and this joint ownership of the rail line will not come to be.
The reason why I am concerned about this is that, in my view, to ensure its long term viability, traffic should be increased on this particular railway line. I viewed favourably this effort on the part of the two railway companies to jointly own the line.
I am disappointed that the whole thing seems to have failed. To conclude, I urge CN and CP to combine their efforts again so that this line connecting eastern and western Canada that the people of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell benefit from can be saved in the medium term and even the long term.
I am pleased to have had the opportunity to participate in this debate. I ask all colleagues to support this bill.