Remarks on HFR to the Transportation Committee

To start, let me say that we are very supportive of investments in passenger rail in Canada. Unifor and our predecessor unions have long advocated for massive investments in higher speed and dedicated inter-city passenger rail services. We believe that public passenger rail has always been an obvious and necessary solution to the unique weather and geographic conditions in Canada.

However, Unifor is very concerned over the use of public-private partnerships, especially when it comes to transport. No matter how many attempts there are to call these structures "modern", they are simply subsidies to commercial interests, that end up costing taxpayers more money, to get a service rather than doing it in house. Report after report has shown this and yet here we are again saying it will be different this time.

P3s for operations are a left over from the previous era of ideological-driven privatization. Decades of failures of this model show there is no magic to be found and no actual competition resulting in higher quality services because transport like this is a natural monopoly.

Unifor has a lot of experience dealing with railway employers public and private. We know first hand how tight the grip on these operations need to be or they extract a huge price. We also know that Canadians were promised and deserve a passenger rail system that is accessible, reliable and affordable.

All that is going to happen here is the further fragmentation of the rail system, making it even harder to achieve a common vision for green transportation of the future. This fragmentation of HFR and VIA already shows that the focus of providing service to the entire Canadian public has been undermined. These services cannot be determined in isolation. Quality public transport should not just be between current economic centers, it is about expanding potential of all Canadians no matter where they live. A comment we have heard from municipal leaders across the country.

Interest in commercial investments in one part of the system cannot be allowed to cannibalize needed investments in the rest of the system. A false division created by the plans for partial privatization. Are we really to believe that we do not have the expertise needed to run the Corridor, but we do have for the rest of the system? Either the government is saying we don't have any intention to develop the rest of the system or the excuse for HFR is bogus.

The fact that the RFP involves two state-owned European rail companies just shows how ridiculous the notion that we need private sector expertise is.

We see the current process as a delay tactic. As a way to involve more consultants, repeating the studies that have already been done to build something we already know how to build. A delay because it is an expensive project and there is a constant fear of spending big money.

Well, you don't build big things without spending big money.

The delay has already had an impact on the rest of the rail system. Under-investment in the rest of the passenger rail system relegates much of our intercity passenger rail to enthusiasts, history buffs, and communities of people who rely on VIA Rail to get to where they need to be.

The lack of proper planning for a functioning public passenger rail system is the cause. Studies and consultations are carried out and then shelved as if the goal were the study itself. As if the ideas will result in someone else building it.

But, passenger rail systems do not work that way. They are built and supported with public money. They must be regulated and refined constantly to facilitate upgrades. This is a costly endeavour like all transport systems. In fact other countries can be a model of how proper investment in public passenger rail system are beneficial.

Because they are costly, we must also make sure the wealth created by the building and operating these systems stays here.

The best way to keep this money in the community is to make sure that the production and servicing and any revenue generated stays in the country. Rail is about nation building and economic development. Not just of the products and people that roll across those tracks, but building, maintenance, and work done to keep it going.

If we continue to privatize these services to companies outside of Canada, we forego a significant part of the economic benefits of building rail and further divide our system.

Unifor recommends that the government review the HFR structure and take some bold steps in investing in a real public passenger rail system. One the whole nation can be proud of.