Mr. Speaker, recently I met with some people from the Zellstoff Celgar pulp mill in my community of Castlegar. This pulp mill is probably one of the most efficient in our country. It is working in a highly competitive market and not only in Canada. In a climate where we see other mills being shut down, it is doing very well. It is in a highly competitive market and is one of the best.
It requires a railway system that is as efficient as possible, yet the feedback I am getting from representatives of the company is that there is no customer service in CP Rail, that the company itself has to do the work to line up cars somehow. It is almost as if the major railways are forgetting about secondary lines and are concentrating only on the main lines.
Being on the agriculture committee, I am getting the same feedback from the farming community and the Canadian Wheat Board. They are worried about our competitiveness in the international market. If we cannot deliver, we lose credibility. The agriculture committee heard this as it toured the country.
I have a question for my colleague. These concerns are very real and have existed for a while. They transcend all party lines. How can we get our government working on behalf of those people, especially in rural Canada, and what leading role should the federal government play to ensure that we have a first class railway system in Canada?