Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here today to talk about a promising project, a generational project that my children and grandchildren will be able to benefit from.
I will begin by talking about Quebec City and its strategic location in North America. In Quebec City, we are already transforming the way we travel. The tramway project marks an important turning point in urban transportation. However, let me be clear: Quebec City cannot limit itself to thinking about its future solely within its municipal borders. A modern Quebec City must also be fully connected to the rest of the province and the rest of the country.
This is where the high-speed rail line becomes essential. Quebec City will be the terminus of this major infrastructure project, the gateway to the eastern part of the country, to a region rich in history, culture and vitality. Quebec City will also be the starting point. It will be a point of departure and arrival for our students who want to study, specialize and return to better their region. It will be a point of departure and arrival for our businesses that want to expand, export, and attract talent and investment. It will be a point of departure and arrival for grandparents who want to hold their grandchildren in their arms. It will be a point of departure and arrival that brings families together. Quebec City is becoming an important strategic hub at the heart of this country's economic, professional and educational development.
This is not just an economic vision. For a long time, the residents of the Quebec City region have expressed an interest in and support for better rail service. Around 2020, when I was president of Quebec City's chamber of commerce and industry, the business community made its opinion very clear in a survey. More than 94% of people wanted a major project. That is a clear, strong message. It is a very strong message. People want modern, efficient and sustainable solutions. They want different ways to get around. They want Quebec City to play in the big leagues of connected cities.
High-speed rail is fast, frequent and reliable. For too long, inter-regional public transit has been going backward instead of forward. There are fewer bus connections, and rail service between our big cities still does not meet the needs of a mobile, active and future-oriented population. For a corridor as strategically significant as the Quebec City-Montreal-Toronto corridor, this is simply unacceptable. The needs are real. Workers need to commute. Students need to be able to get to school, get an education and go back to their communities. Entrepreneurs need to be able to do business efficiently. Too often, the options are still limited to driving and flying, when we should be offering modern, reliable and effective mass transit solutions.
Over the past three years, the on-time performance of Via Rail Canada trains has become a major concern for many Canadians, including in my riding of Beauport—Limoilou. We all know someone, myself included, who was late for a meeting because the train was not on time. Just for the first quarter of 2024, the reported on-time performance was under 72%. At year end, for certain sections between Montreal and Toronto, less than 20% of the trains were on time. Over 70% were late. These statistics show why it is urgent to address the root causes of the delays: priority access to infrastructure, modernizing the rail network and sustained investments in passenger rail service.
If we want to provide Canadians with a reliable, efficient transportation system worthy of the 21st century, we must learn definitive lessons from the past few years and act accordingly. There is another crucial issue that we cannot ignore: the environment. The transportation sector is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Offering a credible alternative to airplanes and single-occupancy vehicles will reduce our carbon footprint. This is about making a responsible choice for future generations. A modern, electrified and efficient rail network will move us much closer to achieving our climate objectives while supporting our economic growth.
What happened in Mirabel in the 1960s enabled Canada to fundamentally transform its land acquisition framework over the past 55 years. Nowadays, projects are governed by clear requirements. Major projects must now comply with clear and rigorous requirements: public consultations from the get-go, fair and transparent compensation, mandatory notifications, waiting periods and mechanisms for opposing decisions.
It is precisely in this spirit that we support today's motion. It reflects the principles already enshrined in Canadian expropriation laws, including mandatory consultation, social licence and respect for the communities concerned.
The Canadian high-speed rail network act is fully in line with the modern framework. It requires consultations through the Impact Assessment Act, provides for upstream collaboration with landowners and establishes a clear, transparent and rigorous process guided by the laws of Quebec and Ontario.
Let us look at a few examples of the next steps for Canadians. Previously, there was no mandatory notice period. Now, formal notices and mandatory deadlines are required before any expropriation can take place. Previously, the federal government acted without coordinating with Quebec. Now, projects are carried out in collaboration with provincial governments in accordance with their laws. Previously, the rights of indigenous peoples were not recognized in these processes. Now, the duty to consult indigenous peoples is a legal obligation affirmed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Let us be very clear. High-speed rail cannot be built without these protections. This project will not be forced through at the expense of communities and landowners. Changing this legislation would not protect Canadians. On the contrary, it would kill the high-speed rail project, jeopardizing more than 50,000 jobs, up to $35 billion in economic benefits, and a major industrial boom for the steel, lumber and construction sectors. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Let us go over some numbers. I am from Quebec City and I lived through the Quebec City tramway saga. In 2021, the auditor general of Quebec City sounded the alarm, reporting that every year of delay in the Quebec City tramway project results in roughly $100 million in additional costs. Who pays for that? The citizens do. It is public money. The longer decisions are delayed because of missed deadlines, the more uncertainty sets in afterwards. These delays are not without consequences. They have contributed to a surge in the overall cost of the project. Originally, in 2018-19, it was estimated to cost between $3 billion and $4 billion. Today, that figure has climbed to nearly $12 billion to $13 billion. This kind of overspending is not theoretical. This is billions of dollars of public money we are talking about. These choices have a direct impact on the government's ability to invest in other things, such as housing, health care, and essential services for citizens.
Acknowledging the past, learning lessons and building the future with respect and accountability: That is what this bill does, and that is why we must support it. Basically, this bill asks us a simple question: What place should Quebec City have in the Canada of tomorrow? Do we want it to be an amazing but isolated city or a fully connected, forward-looking capital city that can attract, retain and circulate talent, ideas and opportunities? I, for one, choose the latter.
The high-speed rail line is an opportunity to make Quebec City both a point of arrival and a point of departure, a symbol of our collective ambition, an investment in our prosperity and a strong step toward building a more sustainable, more connected and more ambitious future.