Mr. Speaker, the future of passenger rail in the country is certainly in doubt. When we look at what the hon. member has just suggested in terms of the overall subsidy paid to VIA Rail and to other non-VIA passenger services, we have to be extremely careful about
how we will handle the very strong demand on Canadian taxpayers for a subsidy.
Surely even the hon. member would agree that since VIA is running trains on a number of corridors throughout the country we should try to keep them as full as possible and try to avoid as much of a drain as possible on Canadian taxpayers.