EDITORIAL: CN taking far too long

Peter Collins threw down the gauntlet Monday night.

The former Fort William First Nations chief loudly declared his support for a blockade of the James Street Swing Bridge.
Collins echoed the sentiments of many in his community, frustrated at what appears to be the dragging of heels by CN in the aftermath of the Oct. 29 fire that shut the bridge down to vehiclular traffic.

Although we don’t condone militant action like this, Collins and company have a point.

The bridge re-opened to train traffic within three days. Those trains are pretty heavy. Yet the company says it will take until at least the end of March before an engineering report arrives to determine the fate of vehiclular traffic on the bridge.

Meanwhile, businesses on both sides of the Kaministiquia are suffering. Fort  William First Nation officials claim their business has dropped a combined $50,000 a day.

That’s a whopping $5.2 million and counting since the bridge went up in flames.

Westfort businesses also appear to be experiencing lower sales. Westfort Foods says their sales are down 10 per cent since the fire.

CN?has added investigators to the file, but the company needs to speed up its efforts and get this bridge reopened.