Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the government member. There are two points to this question coming from Atlantic Canada.
In the 1980s and early 1990s the Conservative government withdrew and cut passenger rail service in many important centres in the Atlantic region, notably Saint John, New Brunswick, and the rail line from my own community of Sydney to Halifax. The prime minister of the day challenged us to show that they were profit making and indeed they were. They were cut anyway.
Today there are many seniors who live in my community who have to make the route from Sydney to Halifax for medical treatment. They are afraid to drive on the twinned highways. They are afraid of the big trucks on these roads, which leaves them with one option, a monopolistic bus route.
My question is twofold. First, in the $2.6 billion is there a plan to return passenger rail service to these communities? Transport 2000 has recognized the importance of that. Petitions have been filed on behalf of those communities recognizing its importance.
Second, the current private rail system which exists to ship goods from Sydney to Halifax is in real danger now that the federal government has decided to close down the coal mines in Cape Breton. There is essentially very little product now since coal is not there to be transported. Yet we recognize the importance of that infrastructure if we are to build a new economy. It may require some government subsidization until the new economy is built. Will the government commit to that?