If the member wants to talk about courage, I will talk about courage. The courage is that in the past I have stood in my place here, in my place in my riding and in my place in my caucus and I have never been afraid to speak up for the people in my area. I have done something which members opposite have not done. I have been able to impact in a positive way public policy for the benefit of the people who live in Atlantic Canada.
We need no lessons from the Reform Party. The Reform Party, in the last few weeks of the campaign in Labrador, suddenly found out that Labrador existed. The Reform Party gets up every day in the House to talk about cutting social transfers to the poorest provinces. However, when it is on the election campaign in Labrador it talks about paving the Labrador highway at a cost of $1.1 billion. We need no lessons on this side of the House from those members opposite.
As the member of Parliament for Dartmouth, I raised with the task force on a number of occasions my concern that the rail line should be protected. I still had the concern that rail line should be protected.
Unlike members on the other side who do not think their voices count in this place, I happen to think the voices on this side are listened to by the front benches. I have received commitments not just from the front benches but from people like Mr. Tellier, the president of Canadian National. If we go back to the committee record, when he was asked the question he said that CN had no problem with the continuation of the rail line because CN was not going to abandon the investments it had made in Atlantic Canada, that it saw Atlantic Canada as a future profit centre for the operation.
To answer my hon. colleague's question of whether I give my unequivocal support, no I do not. Am I concerned about a privatized company, whichever it is, coming forward and changing its corporate direction? Yes, I am. However, am I confident that a rail line from Halifax to Montreal will be maintained as a viable entity, either as part of the main line or part of a short line, which I would support although I do not know if the hon. member would? I am confident that will continue because business goes where there is opportunity. There is no greater place in the transportation sector in Canada for new opportunities than there is at the port of Halifax.