HALIFAX, N.S. — Premier John Hamm said he still hopes to find a “private-sector solution” after the Utility and Review Board authorized the abandonment of industrial Cape Breton’s only rail link.
But opposition MLAs blasted the government’s economic record on the island and dismissed Hamm’s “cheap words.”
The URB ruled Tuesday that the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railroad can close the money-losing line from Sydney to St. Peter’s Junction, near Port Hawkesbury.
Hamm said the decision still gives the province five months to save the railway, but it needs to find a stable private-sector user.
“Rail infrastructure is far too important an economic asset, to Cape Breton and to our province,” the premier said in the legislature. “That’s why we will continue to work so hard over the next five months to ensure that all private-sector options are fully explored.”
Cape Breton Centre NDP MLA Frank Corbett said he heard the same kind of hollow optimism from Hamm when he was supposed to be looking for a buyer for Sysco. But the Tories closed the steel mill, and he believes they are ready to see the train disappear, too.
Corbett said the loss of rail is a direct result of the shutdown of Sydney Steel and Devco’s coal mines in Industrial Cape Breton. Hamm knew it was coming for three years, so he doubts another five months will make a difference.
“If you have a plan, show it to us today; not your cheap words,” Corbett said.
Corbett said Hamm would take action if the rail line to Pictou County was threatened. Hamm said his government has overseen a rebound in the Cape Breton economy, and he sees more optimism there than the community has shown in decades.