Mr. Speaker, it was a pleasure working with the hon. member on the government operations and estimates committee. We were sorry to lose him to another committee.
My question for him concerns rail service. The people of Canada own a passenger rail service which has worked hard to boost its ridership. It is an environmentally friendly form of transportation. It is the preferred form of transportation, and the only form of transportation for many Canadians, yet we have neglected our VIA Rail passenger service. We have neglected to invest the funds to renew the infrastructure and to maintain this form of transportation at a time when many other countries are heavily investing in passenger rail service as one of the preferred forms of transportation.
I would like to ask the hon. member whether his committee considered further investment in VIA Rail and what is he going to be recommending on this.