Mr. Speaker, some people may want to destroy the country, but it would be too easy to destroy the railway system in Canada at the same time.
Canadians were led to believe that Canadian National is an inefficient company that does not meet the needs of the people. After a bit of research, we would come to realize that CN is subject to Canadian legislation which prevents it from being competitive and from selling shares. When it needs capital, CN must ask banks or individuals for a loan, contrary to Canadian Pacific, which can sell shares under these circumstances.
But even without a level playing field, Canadian National was able to make some very important decisions. The company was criticized for building a tunnel which shortens the trip from Montreal to Chicago by 12 hours. First in line to criticize CN were its competitors.
Nowadays, it is easy to rise in the House of Commons and say: "We are against any measure taken to save Canadian National, only because we are against it". We must realize that the time when Crown corporations in difficulty could get cartloads full of money is over. We now have to be efficient and innovative. We already know that Canadian National can easily compete with Canadian Pacific. I am even convinced that it can do better than CP.
Another important point is that while CN has been investing large amounts in its infrastructure, CP has not been doing this. It is normal, faced with the challenge of having to invest in its infrastructure, that it would want to repeat history and say to government: "Sell us this company for a dollar. We assure you that if you let us take over this crown corporation for a dollar you will not lose any more money". Well those days are over. CN is a valuable company in spite of the pressures put on it by government. It is an efficient company. Its employees are the best in North America. They have indicated their interest in making CN work.
The Capreol Save Our Rail Committee has been formed in my riding of Nickel Belt. The northern route has been faced with the challenges that CP initially wanted to merge with CN. This is something that is almost an impossibility when we think of two competitors that have not been very good friends in the last many years.
The next option was to purchase CN for a song and a dance in the same way that the Quebec City transit system was purchased by a very prominent Canadian, and a fellow Sudburian I should mention. The story was I am told: "Sell it to me for a dollar and you will never lose a cent again".
I am an Air Canada retiree. I was a victim of privatization. I am now the best spokesman for Air Canada that one will find and it does not have to pay me to do it. I saw that company grow from a company that was harnessed and handcuffed by federal legislation.
When I was working at Air Canada, we had a suggestion program for employees. If a suggestion led to savings, we got 10 per cent. We had very good ideas as employees. The sad thing is that each time we had a good idea to make the company profitable, we were told that Canadian legislation does not allow Crown corporations to do these kinds of things.
So how can such a company compete on the international market? We know now that our competitors are not here in Canada but around the world. Global competition requires that CN be able to compete on an equal footing with CP, its competitor.
We have mounted a campaign in my riding with the assistance of the Capreol Save Our Rail Committee. This campaign will grow. Our message is that we are giving Canadians facts about the situation of CN. It is not an inefficient company. It is a good company and its employees are excellent. It is performing well and is presently making a profit in spite of government legislation.
I would like us to remember that the airline industry underwent exactly what is happening now in the rail industry. Let us not forget that CP Air was purchased by a smaller company named Pacific Western. At that time it wanted to merge with Air Canada and then it wanted to purchase Air Canada. It is history repeating itself.
What was the message of Canadians? The message was that we need competition in this country. We cannot have just one airline or one railroad because the shippers will be forced to pay the fees required of them.
Our message to Canadians from the Capreol Save Our Rail Committee is: Privatize CN. The employees are signing cards indicating their willingness to participate in such a move. They want to do this because they know that as long as CN is a crown corporation other companies will want to take advantage of its good position. The best people who are in a position to take advantage of the good position of CN are the employees. Therefore, we are pushing for an employee led privatization of CN much like Air Canada did.
I think it is important to mention that Air Canada expects at least to break even and probably to make a profit. And the privatization of Air Canada took place during a recession. While other corporations were closing in Canada, Air Canada succeeded in becoming the great company it is today and, this year, it expects to break even or perhaps even to make a profit.
If Air Canada was able to do this during a recession, I am convinced that CN can do it in an economic upswing. I encourage all Canadians to show their interest in participating in an employee led privatization of CN.
I am not going to dwell on the past as my colleagues from the Bloc Quebecois are doing. I will not go over all the injustices they speak of. I may indulge a bit by saying that the repair shop in Capreol, a modern facility producing more efficiently than Joffre, was closed down in favour of the shop in Joffre, Quebec. As good Canadians we did not spend all our time crying. We sat down and tried to find ways of saving these facilities. We have not given up. The employees of these facilities are signing up. It is not a firm commitment to purchase shares in CN, but it is an indication of their willingness.
I urge Canadians, members of the opposition, all members of this House to seriously consider the benefits of privatizing CN.
As a former employee of Air Canada and as a retiree I know the pride and dignity employees develop in a company when, as in my case, you work for them for 25 years. In the case of the people of Capreol it was for three generations. When you speak of pride to a grandfather about how it was when he was on the railroad, he asks his grandson or granddaughter what it is like today. The pride you develop in a company is something you have to live. It is too easy to say that you worked for a company for a number of years and you either leave with a good package and love the company or leave with a lousy package and remember it forever with animosity.
In the case of Air Canada it used to belong to CN.
The employees of Air Canada and Canadian National are proud people. They are the ones who built the company. One criticism I would make of Canadian National is that if Canadians have come to think that CN is inefficient, that it loses money and makes bad decisions and if my research leads me to conclude that the decisions made by this company are good decisions that have allowed it to become profitable right after a recession, it must mean that the status quo cannot be maintained at CN.
Things must change. Governments have to sit back and try to understand and face up to what it is that a government offers its population. We struggle to offer our population the social services, assistance to the needy, care for the sick, food for people who are hungry, while putting millions of dollars into a company that can do better on its own. It is time Canadians faced reality. We do not print the money any more. Times are hard, but we are coming out of them.
The rail system forms part of our national strategy on the movement of goods and people. If the railroads have been inefficient in the transportation of people it is because of government legislation. Let us get those laws off their backs and allow them to compete through modern legislation face to face.
The competition will no longer be only between CP and CN. CP and CN must find partners. They must have the same tools to work with because their competition is south of the border. The competition is in the trucking industry. Indications are that the trucking industry can no longer maintain its past system of movement of goods. Our roads cannot handle it. Canadians realize they are subsidizing the roads in the same way we subsidized the railroads in the past.
It is difficult for that truck driver driving at four o'clock in the morning realizing he has $200,000 debt on the rig behind him. I am a firm believer that if we plan correctly we can develop a viable system for the railroads in co-ordination and co-operation with the trucking industry. It is reasonable as Canadians to expect that everyone should participate and everyone should become a winner. The transportation of goods in Canada should be a partnership between the railroads and the trucking industry.
As I conclude I would like to repeat my previous comment. The Capreol Save Our Rail Committee has been working diligently. A few months ago its members were faced with the prospect of losing their jobs. This community is a wonderful town. I was at its Santa Claus parade last Saturday. You should see the closeness and the unity in that town.
In the same breath CP says: "We will offer you a dollar for your company and you will never lose a cent again, but one thing we will do the first day we own that portion of CN is we will close the northern line". We are not taking the attitude that we will bring government to its knees or we will bring CN to its knees. We are addressing this issue in a different, modern, Canadian, Liberal fashion. We are meeting and working together. We have opponents but we sit with them. We get to know them and we learn to work together.
We will offer a solution to Canadians. We will maintain the transcontinental line coast to coast at least on CN. We will ask that there be legislation assuring that the transcontinental line will be maintained. I know that is the desire of CN if it should be privatized. By maintaining this line and CP if it can manage to do it would be better for all Canadians.
We could compete until we learn to complement one another in a transportation system that will be the envy not only of the rest of North America but of the world. Competitors could learn to complement one another instead of competing with each other and we could develop a system in co-operation with the trucking industry. Imagine that system which would be envied by all.