Madam Speaker, I rise to present a petition from concerned Canadians and constituents about the situation at Via Rail. Particularly, there is a proposed new expansion that is often mistakenly referred to as high-speed rail. People who love Via Rail tend to want to support it, but the proposed high-frequency rail would hand corridor operations to a private operator. The petitioners point out the Windsor-Quebec corridor is the most lucrative part of Via Rail's network and that 70% of Via Rail's revenue comes from these corridor services. The petitioners point out that this would, effectively, gut Via Rail and negatively affect passenger rail service across Canada.
The petitioners ask that the section of the high-speed, high-frequency rail project that hands operations and services in the corridor to a private operator be taken out. This part of Crown corporation Via Rail's service radius should not be privatized.