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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 201

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 201 - May/29/23
Mr. Taylor Bachrach (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP)
  • May/29/23 6:56:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to expand on a question that I asked on May 16 regarding this government's proposed high-frequency rail project between Toronto and Quebec City. Specifically, the question I raised in question period was based on a response that I received to my Order Paper question regarding the procurement options the government had assessed as part of deciding on the route it was taking. I will say at the outset that the NDP very much supports investing in passenger rail in our country, particularly along the most populous rail corridor between Toronto and Quebec City, but we are deeply concerned about the approach the government has taken. The Liberals seem fixated on pursuing the public-private partnership model despite the many concerns that have been raised along the way. In the response I received, only two privatization procurement models were really assessed in detail. In addition, the government looked at a list of 20 projects, all of which used the P3 model. The government does not seem to have looked in any detail at passenger rail projects in Switzerland, France, Korea and Japan, all of which have wonderful examples of passenger rail that is publicly delivered. The auditor generals in both British Columbia and Ontario have raised serious concerns about the value to the public when it comes to these public-private partnerships. In B.C., for example, the auditor general found that the government was paying almost twice as much to borrow money via the P3 route than for publicly funded projects. I think the public in Canada, Canadian taxpayers, deserves to see a detailed comparison between the P3 model, which is the privatization model the government has proposed for the high-frequency rail project, and a public model, a design-build model that uses public money to build public assets and operate them publicly. I will reference Unifor, the union representing many of the people who work on our passenger trains in Canada. This is from Scott Doherty on March 9, 2022: Privatization in transportation means higher costs, broken promises, worse service and route closures. P3s reward companies where workers are paid less and have job insecurity, and often leads to risks to health and safety.... This proposed P3, [the HFR project], like many other projects, is bound to go off the rails.” We need to put public interests first and foremost. It is extremely concerning to hear the CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank saying in 2020 that he wishes to “start with the market”, which is the private capital markets, “and work backwards” to design projects. We need to start with the public first and ensure that when we are investing in important infrastructure like passenger rail, the public's interest is first and foremost when it comes to how we make decisions in this country. The last thing I will say, in closing, is that there are serious concerns about what privatizing the passenger rail service between Toronto and Quebec City will mean for Via Rail, this country's Crown corporation that has a long history of delivering passenger rail service. That corridor represents over 80% of Via Rail's revenue, and if we take that important revenue and that service and move it to a private corporation, it is going to leave Via Rail as a shadow of its former self when it comes to service in this country. That is something that very much concerns us. I look forward to the parliamentary secretary expanding on why the public received no—
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