The Ottawa Citizen
March 20, 2000

Export Development Corp.’s secret $1-billion deal with U.S. giant called ‘blatant discrimination against Canadians’
(Excerpt)

Canada’s passenger rail advocacy group, Transport 2000, has slammed the Chretien government for secretly lending $1 billion to a U.S. government railroad while slashing funding for VIA Rail service in Canada.

“This is blatant discrimination against Canadian railways and Canadian travellers,” says Harry Gow, president of Transport 2000. “The revelations in the Ottawa Citizen are a wakeup call to the government of Canada to come up with real support for Canadian railway passenger service now.”

On Saturday, the Citizen reported that the federal Export Development Corp. loaned $1 billion to Amtrak, the U.S. government passenger railway, to help finance its Boston-Washington bullet train. The secret loan package helped Montreal-based Bombardier win an international bid for the project.

Since 1993, annual funding for VIA has been cut from $348 million to $178 million per year.

Mr. Gow said funding cuts by a “mingy” Chretien government have left Canadians with aging trains, outmoded safety signal equipment, escalating maintenance costs and sharply reduced service — especially for rural areas in the Maritimes and western Canada.

“The main fleet of national passenger railway cars in Canada is about 50 years old. The main fleet of intercity cars are about 20 years old. Our passenger trains are being hauled mostly by freight locomotives.”

“If the EDC can do this for Amtrak and urban transit authorities in the States, why can’t they do it for Vancouver, for Toronto, for Montreal and Ontario Northland?