Mr. Speaker, indeed I think it important to put all arguments to the House when a bill is being studied, and the point of this one is to bring legislation on rail transportation up to date.
In order to analyze this bill, I decided to use a specific example, because part of this bill concerns all of us and has a particular effect on certain regions of Quebec and Canada. I am talking about rail transportation and the sale of rail lines to private interests.
The example I would like to use is that of the line between Gaspé and Matapedia, in the Gaspé region of eastern Quebec. For a
number of years the fate of this line was up in the air, because there was some doubt as to its continued maintenance.
Under the old way of doing things, under the present legislation, there must be public hearings. The government, when it wants to close a line, has to go through the transportation agency, hold hearings and get opinions.
Under the new bill, and this is very important for the future of these lines, there is no provision for public hearings where people can come and present reasons why a rail link is important to their community. For example, the year after we were elected, there was a rumour the Gaspé-Matapedia line would be closed. Public hearings were held. Hearings were even organized by community groups and, as the result of representations made, we succeeded in keeping the line running.
Today, under the new legislation, things would read differently: the owner would simply have to announce its intention to divest itself of the line, and the people in the community would have only two weeks for consultations on the merits of buying the line.
We are confronted with a situation where negotiations could easily be conducted behind the scene, which could favour private owners. We have a very real case in point here. The rumour has it, and there have been reports in the press these past few days saying that the Gaspe-Matapedia line may be sold to a company like Irving, which already owns several similar properties.
In the meantime however, the local population does not know how to react, for lack of information on whether or not the line is for sale.
The bill provides that railway companies shall prepare a three year plan concerning the lines they intend to sell, but this provision is of no use in 1996. The companies have not yet been asked to table these plans. Assuming that the bill became law by the end of the current session and that the companies prepared their plans-because they are required only to prepare plans, to have them on file, not to file them-the stakeholders are in no position to prepare their case, to determine if there would be any potential local buyers. Instead, this will encourage the bringing of railway lines under the control of foreign interests or big money.
Therefore, there is no guarantee that the line will remain open in the medium term. Let us take a case like that of Irving, a company involved in many areas, such as lumbering, automobile gasoline and rail transportation. At times, its interests may conflict with that of the local population.
The bill, as it stands, does not provide well enough that the local population, those who live in that part of the country will have the opportunity to thoroughly analyze the situation, take their responsibilities, and find out if local interests would offer to buy.
In this case, the example of the Gaspe-Matapedia line could be taken one step further by asking ourselves: providing sufficient notice was given, what would keep the solidarity fund recently established for the Lower St. Lawrence and Gaspesian Peninsula from being used to enable a consortium of local interests-this money could be put together with money from other local sources, local interests-to buy the facility and give it a future. Let us stop throwing back into question, year after year, the future of this line.
I notice one disappointing fact and that is the fact that the current federal government does not care the least for regional development. It has really given in to market forces as we see in all the legislation it introduces, of which this is but one example. They say they will let the market forces come into play as much as possible, and under the guise of deregulating, they are tolerating things that do not promote regional development in Quebec and Canada.
I believe it would be in the interest of the Liberal majority, in particular members from the regions, to amend this bill so as to give people in the areas more time to find out about the sale of a rail line, about sale conditions, about the cost and about what kind of development can take place around the line in question.
Other points could be raised. Before, carriers could enter into secret deals to provide services at the lowest possible prices in an effort to stay competitive. They could then remain on the market. However, the law required these agreements to be submitted to the National Transportation Agency. This requirement will be eliminated. Owners of short line railways will no longer have some kind of guarantee that they will have access to major national railways.
In our opinion, this should be corrected to give equal opportunities to owners of short line railways, as there is an increasing number of such railways. We must ensure that these short line railways have a future, that they have the same opportunities as major carriers, so that these people are not sold out.
The other point I wanted to raise is that there is no assurance that there will be a requirement that short line railways be connected to the major networks. I think the bill should be amended to allow for the smooth operation of short line railways. These railways are of local or regional interest and would help develop the whole region.
This bill has another flaw: it says that, in the future, any short line railway can be declared to be in the general interest of Canada. This situation could hurt short line railway owners, since they must co-operate with major railways such as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, and since that decision would not give these owners the leeway that they would otherwise have if they were regulated only by provincial laws. This would in fact make a lot more sense, considering that almost all short lines are sections of a
railroad in a province. Therefore, they should really be governed by provincial legislation. However, the federal government is giving itself the right to rule that any short line is beneficial to Canada. In so doing, it more or less duplicates the legislation governing owners.
Sure, it is necessary to update the legislation on railroad transportation. However, the bill does not adequately take into account the experience gained over the last 5, 10, 15 or 20 years regarding the abandonment of railway lines.
All these obstacles and difficulties have helped us develop an expertise. In fact, local groups that have developed some expertise in the submission of briefs opposing the abandonment of lines are being somewhat deprived of that expertise, since the bill will no longer allow them to use it in the same fashion. These groups will no longer have adequate information to help local authorities decide what to do when faced with this kind of situation.
I should also point out that clause 99 does not stipulate that the agency must conduct an environmental study before authorizing the construction of a railway line. This seems unusual, given an increasing awareness in Quebec and in Canada regarding the need to assess the environmental impact of any decision of an economic nature.
In short, this is more or less an omnibus bill dealing with several issues. My main concern is with the railway sector. I believe we must use concrete examples, such as the Gaspe-Matapedia line, to show that the bill will become acceptable, if some amendments allow local interests to be well informed about the decisions that will be made by current owners. Furthermore, we must ensure that they have time to draft counterproposals, so that these lines can be taken over as quickly as possible by local interest groups, thus avoiding the situation that we are currently experiencing with the sale of CN.
As we are now finding out, because of insufficient control over the sale of shares, an architectural work of art like the Quebec bridge is now owned in part by American interests. In any discussion about cultural heritage, whether in Quebec or in Canada, it is important to prevent anything of the sort from happening again.
I would urge the government to make sure that the final version of the bill provides for a more transparent process. We all agree on the need for planning and for companies to make plans, saying: "Over the next three years, we intend to get rid of such and such a line", but they should be required to submit their plans to the National Transportation Agency, not just keep them on file. Second, we should have access to this information as quickly as possible so that the public is kept informed.
Time frames of 15 days or 60 days, at present, are inadequate. More time is required, again, to protect local interests.
Let us hope that the approved version of the bill will include these changes and that, if the Gaspé-Matapédia line changes hands, this will be in the best interests of Gaspesians, Quebecers and the people of eastern Quebec and all of eastern Canada, because this is a high quality line. This line, which once provided Gaspesians with their only means of travel in the summertime, has become a major touristic tool. It is therefore important that those who want to ensure its continued development have the opportunity to buy it, in order to avoid unpleasant surprises like seeing the new owner close down the line just a few years from now for reasons that do not necessarily take into account the interests of the region.
