The results of last week's meeting... hopefully someone will take the lead but it requires upper level money.
http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/Artic...aspx?e=2488684
Call on upper-tiers
Posted By STEPHEN UHLER
PETAWAWA -No municipality in Eastern Ontario wants to lose the railway, but no one wants to take ownership of it, either.
The only practical solution, should the Canadian Pacific rail line ever be abandoned, is for the provincial and federal governments to step forward and help preserve the tracks between Smiths Falls and Mattawa.
This is the consensus of the communities which line the tracks from North Bay to Smiths Falls, whose representatives filled the conference area of the Petawawa Civic Centre on Thursday.
Invited by Renfrew County, the collection of mayors, councillors, municipal staff, business people and others from across the region met to discuss a "Plan B" should efforts by the CPR to find another rail carrier to take over the line fall through before the April 5 deadline.
Following the deadline, if no interest has been expressed in the line, the company will offer it to the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and if no one steps forward then, will scrap it. Those meeting in Petawawa have been working together on ways to try and prevent that from happening.
Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet, who was both host and emcee for the meeting, said while he knows Canadian Pacific is actively seeking another rail company to take over the lines - Ontario Northland is rumoured to be a possibility - this is no guarantee CP will be successful.
He said because of the tight timelines, there isn't any time to waste if they want to head off any potential loss of the railway should another carrier not be found to take over.
"This is the time of uncertainty and concern for the future of this major transportation link," Mayor Sweet said, noting once the CPR's obligation to CFB Petawawa wraps up at the end of March, it will terminate its lease with the military and begin the process of ridding itself of the line.
Mayor Sweet said the municipalities have to take action now before the April deadline, in order to make it clear where they stand. Suggestions which will be followed up include a joint resolution of all Eastern Ontario municipalities calling on the rail to be maintained, working on a business case to prove the rail line is viable and vital to their economic interests, and lobbying every avenue of government they can, including contacting the All Party Rail Caucus Parliamentary Group, which oversees matters of Canada's railways.
"We have to do everything we can to safeguard and maintain this, a critical piece of our transportation infrastructure."
Renfrew County Warden Don Rathwell said it is of vital importance for the whole region the rails stay in operation, but at the same time there is no way local municipalities can afford to get into the train game.
"This is a business which should be supported by the provinces and the federal government," he said. "We're not interested in ownership of it, and neither are our ratepayers."
"The only way to continue this is for the federal and provincial governments to get involved quickly."
The fate of the rail lines through the Ottawa Valley have been left up in the air since CP announced at the end of 2009 it was discontinuing its leasing agreement with Railway America, the owner of Ottawa Valley Railway (OVR), and searching for a new carrier to take over the lines between Mattawa and Smiths Falls.
The CP line is one of two running through the Ottawa Valley. The other, the old CN line known as the Beachburg Subdivision, is also being abandoned. A non-profit group Transportation Pontiac-Renfrew is hard at work seeing if it can be preserved as a local passenger and freight service.
If a new company is found, a six-month grace period will come into play to give the carrier time to take over the CP lines. Following the April 5 deadline, if no carrier is found, CP will offer the rail line to local and upper-tier governments and if interest is expressed, a similar period could be granted.
If not, the rails could be uprooted as early as this summer.
So far, there has been no formal comments about the rail situation directly from either the provincial or federal governments, but local representatives of both have expressed their support to maintain the Ottawa Valley rail lines.
While neither Renfrew-Nipissing- Pembroke MP Cheryl Gallant nor MPP John Yakabuski were able to attend the meeting, but both passed along their support for the effort and their concern about the fate of the railway.
In a media release, MP Gallant said the offer by the federal government to include rail applications in the Canada- Ontario Provincial-Territorial Base Fund "provides an existing funding pool to tap to support rail applications."
The MP said Canada is prepared to provide each province and territory with funding up to the full $175 million from 2009 to 2011, subject to matching contributions, which will allow for the repair of bridges, local roads, highways, and in the case of Ontario, railways.
"At this point it is up to local stakeholders to not only voice their concern about the need to save our local railways, but to provide a business plan," she said, noting Ontario, like other provinces, has subsidized passenger rail with funding for years.
"Now what is required (here) is a similar commitment from the province of Ontario."
In a letter dated March 9 and circulated among those attending Thursday's meeting, MPP Yakabuski wrote to Kathleen Wynne, the Minister of Transportation, asking for the province's commitment to help save the rail line.
"Officials of CP Rail explained that they would be moving ahead to shut down the rail lines between Petawawa and Smith Falls and then Petawawa to Mattawa shortly thereafter," he said.
"We in Renfrew County are very concerned about the loss of this vital transportation link, as the Upper Ottawa Valley could suffer greatly, with no four-lane highway and the potential loss of the rail line."
The MPP said since it is financially impossible for the municipalities to take on the burden of running a rail line, it is up to the upper levels of government to step in if needed.
"MP Gallant states the key to unlocking the $175 million for infrastructure projects which include rail is for the Ontario provincial government to sign the Canada-Ontario Provincial Territorial Base-Fund Agreement," he said.
"What is the provincial government prepared to do to assist and work with the federal government to ensure that this economic life line is not lost?"
During Thursday's meeting, an assortment of speakers from across the region all expressed their support for maintaining the rail service.
Jim Hutton, Renfrew County's development and property director, said it is already difficult for the county to compete economically with those communities which rest beside the Highway 401 corridor. Without the railway, they would be in tougher straits.
He said one of the reasons the fibre-board plant was built in Laurentian Valley Township for $120 million some 15 years ago was due to its proximity to the rail lines. Since then, when other companies have expressed interest in investing here, one of the first things they inquire about is the existence of cheap transportation links, which remains rail. Without it, Mr. Hutton explained, the county is a harder sell to investors.
Arnprior Mayor Terry Gibeau, who was speaking as a member of the Transport Pontiac-Renfrew board, said they are facing similar issues with the CN line. Together, the CP and CN lines are the only real railway link to Eastern Ontario direct from the north and west.
"If the lines are taken out, everything will have to go through Toronto, which is problematic," he said, adding time and distance to transportation costs.
Al Lunney, Mississippi Mills Mayor and Acting Warden, Lanark County, said they too are taking the position of opposing the discontinuation of the rail line. He said even if freight and passenger traffic were dishe rails themselves could be used to boost tourism for both Lanark and Renfrew Counties.
This won't happen if the rails are ripped out, he stressed.
"We have to keep the pressure on the governments," the acting warden said, "and open their eyes to the issue at hand."
Pembroke Mayor Ed Jacyno said he also supports the rail line, not just for economic reasons but national security as well, considering CFB Petawawa needs the lines to transport troops and equipment.
He added he would like to see one small stretch of the CP line running through the city's downtown and close to the waterfront removed, and train traffic diverted around the community. This would be both pleasing to the eye as it would eliminate the berm cutting off the waterfront from the city's core, and for safety reasons, as the city has been the scene of three derailments in recent history.
Smiths Falls Mayor Dennis Staples said while his community was blessed this week with news VIA Rail was spending big dollars making major upgrades to the station and the Ottawa to Toronto tracks running through his community, he said it is equally important to maintain the lines running through the Ottawa Valley.
"Once it's removed, it won't come back," he said.
Wayne Thompson, who identified himself as an outdoor writer, said he feels the tracks should be preserved at all costs, as they are the way of the future. He explained with fuel costs projected to skyrocket and the world looking towards more environmental solutions to meet its needs, train travel is the obvious choice.
"Europe has made that choice years ago," he said, suggesting instead of governments putting money into fourlaning Highway 17, they should instead put it into the railways.
"Building more roads is not the answer," Mr. Thompson said. He suggested even if CP decides to abandon the line, all effort should be made to prevent it from being scrapped, in order to retain an asset which will be used in the future.
Mayor Sweet said the scope of the discussion shows this isn't just a local issue but a national one, and should be treated with the same gravity.
"If this issue was happening down in Toronto, this will be dealt with 'toute suite'," he said.
Susan Ellis, the city of Pembroke's economic development manager, said what is needed is an aggressive awareness campaign, aimed at the government as well as industry and the public, to get people on board with this effort.
Article ID# 2488684