Winnipeg Manitoba - Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government has put the brakes on a task force, launched by the previous NDP government, to look at moving rail yards out of Winnipeg.
 
Indigenous and Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke confirmed her government has halted a contract with former Quebec premier Jean Charest to head up the rail relocation study.
 
"Our government is making strategic funding decisions based on return on investment. To that end, the contract with Mr. Charest has been placed on hold pending thorough review," Clarke said in a statement to CBC News on Thursday.
 
Charest has not received any payment as part of the contract to date, a government spokesperson added.
 
The task force was launched by then-premier Greg Selinger in January, along with a $400,000 investment in its work, to study whether rail lines and yards should be moved out of the city.
 
But Clarke accused Selinger's New Democrats of promising too much in the months before they fell to the Tories in April's election.
 
"Good governments must make difficult decisions when faced with competing priorities but the NDP said yes to everything in the lead up to an election, including a task force on rail relocation," her statement reads in part.
 
"Unfortunately, the NDP's inability to control their spending over more than a decade has left Manitobans with massive debt and ever-increasing taxes."
 
Winnipeg is home to a number of rail yards, including the massive Canadian Pacific yard that separate the North End from central Winnipeg and the BNSF yard in River Heights.
 
They have been the subject of discussion for years, with critics proposing they be relocated to create more residential, commercial, recreational space, and reduce traffic congestion.
 
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