(The Globe and Mail posted the following article by Keith McArthur on its website on February 19.)
OTTAWA — The Canadian federal government is considering using money earmarked in yesterday’s budget for Kyoto Protocol commitments to kickstart plans for a high-speed rail link in Central Canada.
Although the $3-billion proposal wasn’t specifically mentioned in the budget, sources say it has the support of the Prime Minister and could get cabinet approval shortly.
Via Rail Canada Inc. has asked for federal funding for a plan for improved track and new trains that would cut travel times almost in half along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor.
Some observers had expected that seed money for the project would be detailed in yesterday’s budget.
Transport Minister David Collenette said yesterday he never expected the project to be announced in the budget. He said he’s hopeful it will go ahead even though it was not announced yesterday.
“This is a long-term issue, but it’s one that I think can be resolved in the very near future, once we get the work done and we’ve worked out the numbers,” he said.
Finance Minister John Manley told CTV that there may be funds in the budget for rail initiatives even though the high-speed rail proposal was not “expressly” mentioned.
It is expected that the private sector — including Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Co. — would need to contribute to the $3-billion upgrade project.
Montreal-based transportation giant Bombardier Inc. would likely benefit from the proposal. Bombardier has been actively promoting its new high-speed JetTrain, which uses a Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine on a locomotive.
Mr. Manley announced $2-billion in funding to help Ottawa meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Numerous projects will be competing for limited funds that are to be used to encourage environmentally friendly methods.
The budget also includes $3-billion in new infrastructure spending.
As a Crown corporation, Via is not eligible for the funds, but it’s possible that Bombardier or the private freight railways could apply.
Train buffs pushing for the proposal were disappointed that it was not specifically mentioned yesterday.
“We really feel that an opportunity to provide an environmentally friendly system of transportation has been taken away — or if not away — at least it has been reduced,” said David Jeanes, president of the train advocacy group Transport 2000.
Mr. Jeanes blamed the country’s airlines and bus companies, — which have launched a joint lobbying campaign against high-speed rail, for the fact that the project was not included in the budget.
“The airline and bus coalition seems to have achieved its goal of getting the rail money out of the budget,” Mr. Jeanes said. “I think the lobbying had an effect. It was ill-founded.”
The Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents the country’s airlines, says it makes no sense for the federal government to spend money on a subsidized mode of transport while the country’s airlines are struggling.
“We’re pleased that there is no mention of high-speed rail,” said Cliff MacKay, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada. “We’ve been quite clear that we think it was not a wise move.”
The coalition of airlines and bus companies argues that high-speed rail is not as good for the environment as it is made out to be. It says that by definition, a locomotive using an aircraft engine wouldn’t be any better for the environment than an airplane. Proponents of the high-speed rail proposal say you can transport more passengers per engine than you can on a plane.
Earlier this month, Mr. Collenette signalled that he’d had some success in getting his cabinet colleagues to buy into the proposal.
“There are a lot of train fans in cabinet,” he said at the time.