Mr. Speaker, yes, in fact, what is happening is that our national dream is slowly drifting away as CN and CP are abandoning rail lines because they are not always profitable in this vast country of ours. Even though CN made $2.7 billion last year, it is unwilling to service some of the areas that are not turning a substantial profit. Thousands of tracks are being given up, whether they are for passenger rail or freight services. More trucks are on the road. VIA Rail is losing customers. It just had its budget cut by $20 million.
We need to re-examine our entire rail service so that we can come back to the Canadian dream of a rail line connecting all of us from coast to coast to coast.