Mr. Speaker, I listened to the parliamentary secretary. He says that VIA Rail is a crown corporation, but at the same time it is a crown corporation that has a responsibility—as does the government, since it is holding the purse strings—to ensure that the train can travel from coast to coast, from Halifax to Vancouver. VIA Rail needs to know that the government is not there to oversee its daily operations and that it will stay out of VIA Rail's business, but that there needs to be a train from Halifax to Vancouver.
VIA Rail should not be passing its costs on to the cities of Bathurst, Miramichi and Campbellton. It is unbelievable and unacceptable. Our cities back home and many cities across Canada do not have enough money to pave their roads and streets, and now VIA Rail wants to pass its debt on to the cities. It is all well and good to say that it wants to put its fiscal house in order, but it is the cities and towns that are going to pay.
I am asking the minister once again to meet with the municipalities, open her ears and listen—