Perth Ontario - VIA Rail is continuing to insist that Perth will have its own stop on the proposed Peterborough to Smiths Falls route.
 
Proposed maps seen by Perth Mayor John Fenik last year show Peterborough getting its own station along the proposed high frequency rail route from Peterborough to Ottawa, via stations in Tweed and Sharbot Lake but not Perth.
 
On a day when he met the new leader of the official opposition at Queen's Park, NDP leader Andrea Horwath, at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference in Ottawa, Fenik met with retired lieutenant-commander Jacques Fauteux, director of government and community relations with the office of Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, the president and CEO of VIA Rail.
 
"Perth is still on the radar for a station," said Fenik, the afternoon after his meeting with Fauteux.
 
The rail project is now at the "community consultation phase," said Fenik.
 
"It's still with the federal government. It's all subject to funding from the federal government."
 
On the morning of Tuesday, 21 Aug 2018, Mariam Diaby, representing media relations for VIA in Montreal, emailed that the proposed "route would lead from Toronto to Ottawa via Peterborough and Smiths Falls, mostly along the existing railway corridor. The final route and its stops will be determined in consultation with the communities and municipalities along the line."
 
Diaby continued that VIA had "submitted the business case for its proposed program to the government of Canada in December 2016."
 
Previous federal budgets "provided funds to Transport Canada to further study the proposal. Their analysis is expected to be concluded this fall leading to a government decision shortly thereafter."
 
Fenik noted that he did not want a "phone-booth type station," he said, preferring a station made "out of limestone, like the station we once had," in Perth.
 
As a former federal candidate himself, he said he would not be surprised if "they will be making big announcements," about the line in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election.
 
Not So Fast?
 
While Fenik may have been assured, Paul Langan, president of High Speed Rail Canada, is less so.
 
The leader of the "citizens advocacy group for educating Canadians on High-Speed Rail (HSR)," pointed out that the map that circulated in 2017, with proposed stations shown for Peterborough, Sharbot Lake, and Tweed, culminating in Smiths Falls, was never disavowed by VIA.
 
"VIA never once stated it was inaccurate," wrote Langan in an 22 Aug 2018 email.
 
"VIA is stringing the Perth mayor and everyone along. VIA basically went to everyone along the line, getting them to buy in, and got them to pass resolutions," of support.
 
Langan wondered why the Sharbot Lake station appears on the map, but not Perth.
 
AMO
 
During his time at the AMO conference, Fenik also met with Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade Minister Jim Wilson, but was unable to meet the new transportation minister, John Yakabuski.
 
"It's important to get the ear of the new provincial government (especially) within 24 months of getting newly elected," Fenik said during an earlier interview on Monday, 20 Aug 2018.
 
Desmond Devoy.