16 December 2010

Municipalities Take to Hill to
Protest Rail Removal

Ottawa Ontario - A dozen representatives of Lanark and Renfrew counties braved the frigid temperatures on Parliament Hill on 9 Dec 2010 to protest the proposed removal of rail lines leading to and through the counties.
 
The 104-mile long Ottawa Valley Railway line between Smiths Falls and Mattawa has been flagged for dismantling, as the steel and components of the rail carry a roughly $50 million sale price for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
 
The track has been in use for the last 125 years.
 
"We're out here to get some publicity on this issue of CP's plans to rip up the tracks between Mattawa and Smiths Falls," said Al Lunney, retired mayor of Mississippi Mills and a consultant for the Lanark County on the rail.
 
"We had a consultation with their stakeholders to see if there's a future for these rail lines."
 
The tracks have not been used since January 2010, but Lunney suggests there is plenty of life left in the rails.
 
"What CP had done is that they said there is no business for it," said Lunney.
 
"It isn't quite true, because they've done is taken all the business that was there before and swung it up through the Toronto corridor, which allows them to say well, there's no business on this corridor, so let's disband it. We're very concerned about that, because it's putting more and more traffic through Toronto, and the congestion in Toronto is huge."
 
Communication has been a problem, as the municipalities do not know what CP Rail is expecting for the railway, whether it's a $100 million price tag or a single dollar.
 
The federal government bypassed their deadline to purchase the rails on 5 Nov 2010, as did the provincial government on 6 Dec 2010.
 
OC Transpo has the next option to purchase until 5 Jan 2011, followed by the municipalities on 4 Feb 2011, but the municipalities lack the resources for the purchase.
 
After the 4 Feb 2011. deadline, CP Rail has the right to dismantle the line and sell the materials.
 
Lunney brought many of his friend from Lanark and Renfrew counties to speak on the steps of Parliament Hill.
 
Speakers during the rally included John Fenik warden of Lanark County, Dennis Staples the mayor of Smiths Falls, and Peter Emon the Reeve of Greater Madawaska.
 
"This is about Canada," said Fenik. "Once that rail line is torn up, once those rails are gone, they will never come back. There is a responsibility for the federal government to make a stand and say we're not about tearing up infrastructure in this country, we are about moving forward and maintaining infrastructure."
 
According to Lunney, there is precedent of railways in the Valley causing heartache after their dismantling.
 
"The main issue is the line has to stay there," said Lunney. "If you look at the line that was taken out of Carleton Place about 15 years ago, no one would have ever thought Carleton Place would grow to the extent that it did, but it grew, and now they would die to get that track back in. It's just the wrong time to take out rail lines."
 
The group's best hope to apply pressure is to produce a business proposal that will coerce CP Rail to leave the tracks where they are through several joint business ventures, such as tourism and passenger lines.
 
"It's important for all of us here in Lanark and Renfrew County to come together with our two other levels of government, provincial, and federal, private sector, rail authorities, and understand the implications of this significant decision which is under way," said Staples. "The ball is in our court. We need our federal and provincial partners at the table with CP rail to understand where the opportunities are. We can make this a great success if we do our job well. That's why we have tremendous support here today in Ottawa, to do this work for our future generations and the future of rail policy."
 
The next step for the group is to lobby all three levels of government to keep the lines in place.
 
The morning before the rally, Lunney and his group met with Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield.
 
"We don't feel any small municipality can decide this on their own," said Lunney. "They really have to have the federal government, the provincial government, City of Ottawa, they got to have all the partners, the tourism industry, everybody, at the table and say is there a possible use for this rail line?"
 
The problem with the group's lobbying is it is difficult to identify a branch of government that will take responsibility for the lines.
 
"The minister is saying it is CP Rail's responsibility, it's their line, they own it," said Lunney. "The federal government has washed their hands of it. The provincial said no, they can't do anything with it. The City of Ottawa which has a small part of running through the city, they're looking at it at the present time, but they don't quite know what they're going to do with it. At the end of the day it boils down to no municipality, Lanark or Renfrew county, are not going to say Hey we found $50 million, here, we want to buy the line. There has to be a partnership."
 
Andrew Sztein.