Transport committee  I have had some. We have an organization in eastern Ontario, the eastern Ontario mayors' caucus, which I established after the election in 2003. They are the mayors of the cities and separated towns in eastern Ontario. We invited Ottawa; they didn't want to join. But we have all

Transport committee  Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I think that AMO—it probably would be AMO, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, since we're talking about this corridor through Ontario—might be reluctant to make a representation. Toronto is not a member of AMO at this point. If they took

Transport committee  I would appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Transport committee  I'm mainly concerned with the Windsor-Quebec corridor. That route, especially between Montreal and Toronto, which passes through Kingston, is a very high-traffic area for all modes of transportation, whether it's air, vehicle, or rail. We don't have ships, but we could have ships

Transport committee  I'm not so concerned about where exactly it's located, but that it will be located within a reasonable distance of Kingston. As I understand it, no high-speed rail system can properly function if it's sharing the line with freight. They have to be dedicated lines. I wonder how th

Transport committee  I spoke with Mayor Labeaume of Quebec City, and the SNCF report did not recommend a route through Kingston. I was under the impression—I may be mistaken—that the prior report, the one that you referred to as well, had at least an option that excluded a stop in or near Kingston. M

Transport committee  No we haven't had any discussions with our neighbouring municipalities. But at the same time, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has some bias with respect to growth of the city of Kingston north of Highway 401. There is not a great deal of development going north of t

Transport committee  Not that I am aware of. I know there was a report. I'm not sure if it was from this committee, but there was a route that the federal government had studied--and I'm not sure if it went as far as a proposal--that was a direct route, some years ago, back in the nineties, I believe

Transport committee  I said Kingston would join that group of municipalities that are sponsoring the SNCF report. I did speak with the mayor of Quebec City, Régis Labeaume, about the possibility. The report at this point is a first report. It does not consider Kingston as a stop or even near the line

Transport committee  It would likely have to be north of the 401, and 20 kilometres north of the 401 you're at Rutledge Road, just north of Loughborough Lake. Anywhere in that 20-kilometre range is 15 minutes from Kingston, from the built-up area. It's certainly outside, at this point, the long-term

Transport committee  At this point there's no project on the books, but we are the home of Bombardier, and perhaps a light rail connection from downtown Kingston wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities in the long term.

Transport committee  Certainly, thank you. Mr. Chair and members of the standing committee, on behalf of the City of Kingston, I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you to speak to the issue of a proposed high-speed rail line, one that will one day connect the major cities across so