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What is the future of VIA Rail?

Hah hah hah.

Here's what they'll really look like - 60 year old RDCs.

EN9.jpg
 
....or. The new 'upgraded' retro style Weston corridor with authentic, immitation rotting railway ties, rusted rails, and faux cracking concrete side walls. Also notice the modest shelter to the right, complete with lush landscaping.

AFB3-C1.jpg
 
I enjoyed the comparison between the two images above. Maybe with Harper killing Kyoto we can go totally retro and bring back coal-powered steam engines. Call it the "Canada Steamtrain Lines." Maybe Paul Martin can run it after he retires from government.
 
lol spmarshall. That made me laugh, and then cry a little as I realized how close to the painful truth it would be.

I think this also might be another option that the Conservatives would be more likely to replace Blue 22 with.

403_CL1.jpg
 
thanks for the link green.

i did a wiki on the guy and it say's he's retired...

Jim Gouk
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James William "Jim" Gouk (born April 15, 1946 in Toronto) is a Canadian politician.

Gouk began his political career as an alderman in Castlegar, British Columbia. Gouk would enter federal politics in 1993 when he was elected into the Canadian House of Commons. In the Canadian federal election, 1993 he was elected in Kootenay West—Revelstoke with the Reform Party of Canada. In the Canadian federal election, 1997 he was elected out of the West Kootenay—Okanagan riding. In the Canadian federal election, 2000, Gouk was elected after joining the Canadian Alliance from the Kootenay—Boundary—Okanagan riding. He was elected a fourth time in the Canadian federal election, 2004 in the riding of Southern Interior, this time for the Conservative Party of Canada. An air traffic controller, businessman and realtor, he has been an opposition critic of Transport, Public Works and Government Services, Labour, and Via Rail before retiring from politics at the dissolution of parliament prior to the 2006 federal election.


who's to say that the conservatives won't share the same values. i wonder who the puppet is that will replace him? maybe him retiring was a strategic move by the CONs so they can appeal to urban voters.

who is likley to be the CON's transport minister?
 
who is likley to be the CON's transport minister?

Not likely anyone with a frequent service VIA rail stop in their city. With most of their support from rural areas and areas outside Ontario and Quebec the likelihood of finding a supporter of VIA rail in the Conservative cabinet is highly unlikely. Intercity rail in Ontario and Quebec is only important in cities in Ontario and Quebec... the place Conservatives are unlikely to do well.
 
""If the government is serious about cutting wasteful programs, (VIA) would be a great place for it to start.""

I partially agree with this. I've heard the Windsor-Quebec corridor actually turns a profit, so I would keep it. But there are corridors which have been bleeding money for so many years, that it is fiscally irresponsible to keep them.
 
Roads are bleeding money too with all those repairs, policing, snow removal, and such.
 
And the Canadian, which does lose money except in the peak tourist season, still helps to subsidize the Capreol-Winnipeg section, which is required as a remote service, serving many communities without all-season roads.

In terms of subsidies, VIA isn't all that bad compared to many government services.
 
If the Conservatives do get rid of VIA, one can only hope that a "corridor corporation" opens to keep up what is the most successful portion of the system. With some service improvements, easily more than one third of the population of the country could have access to this corridor route.

But all of this would take some creative thinking, courage and investment that I'm not sure really exists with repect to passenger train travel in this country.
 
The difference is VIA isn't needed in some of these places.
 
I think that the corridor can make a profit. Privatization in Britain has problems in some areas, but not all. The lack of an extensive system in Canada lets whoever takes care of the corridor concentrate on it.
 

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