Mr. Speaker, today there are 13 railway short lines in Ontario, transporting goods to market, supporting thousands and thousands of Ontario jobs and dozens of Ontario communities. Examples such as the Huron Central, the Ottawa Valley, the Kawartha Lakes Railway and others could all cease operations, some as early as this summer, if vital infrastructure investments are not made.
Since 2006, our government has partnered with several provinces to assist rail operators in rebuilding vital short line rail arteries and the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities has stated that he stands ready to support Ontario rail short line infrastructure applications.
This Parliament's all-party rail caucus, which I have been honoured to chair for the last several years, has consistently indicated its support for Ontario's short line rail and we were all heartened when MPP David Orazietti proclaimed, through a release, that the McGuinty government was officially committed to partnering with our government in support of our rail short lines.
I encourage our provincial partners to sign on to the territorial base fund and support Ontario short line infrastructure applications. The time to act is now.