A policy analyst says the federal government needs to wake up and renew a national dream.
Greg Gormick is the project director for National Dream Renewed. The project from Transport Action Canada, a national public transit advocacy group, is touring the country asking people to join them in a campaign to get the federal government to commit to passenger rail service.
Thunder Bay lost its rail service nearly 23 years ago. While some may say it’s a pipedream to get the service back, Gormick points to places like Brunswick, Maine, which lost rail service in 1959. Recently, the town got its Amtrak service back.
“If they can do it in the United States, which is even more of a car and air culture than Canada, I see no reason why we can’t,” Gormick said Saturday in Thunder Bay at a crowded 55 Plus Centre townhall meeting.
Passenger service is needed now more than ever as rising fuel costs will likely increase air fares.
“Fuel will drive a lot of this debate and when it comes to energy and fuel trains beat all the other forms of transportation hands down.
Trains will ultimately be the winners. The question is when is that going to happen?” Gormick said.
Air travel is great Gormick said, but it won’t service places like Chapleau, White River or other towns in the region. Major nations are improving rail service as part of a balanced transportation system. But Canada, with continued cuts to VIA Rail, seems to be heading in the other direction Gormick said.
There are many reasons for that direction, including heavy lobbying from other transportation sectors on Parliament Hill. But Gormick said sometimes there’s an even simpler answer for why both Liberal and Conservative governments haven’t improved the service.
“If I really want to get honest some of them are just plain dumb when it comes to transportation. It’s time for them to wake up,” he said.
Even if the current government doesn’t listen, Gormick said perhaps future ones will.
“We are not going away. The government may think that they can brush us away but they won’t.”
