Hill Renews Call For Transport Vision

January 29, 2001

OTTAWA-Canadian Alliance Chief Transportation Critic, Jay Hill, expressed his disappointment today over the decision to dismantle Canadian Pacific Ltd. and his concern for the future of rail and shipping in Canada.

“The dismantling of Canadian Pacific may produce financial gains for its shareholders, but will do little to benefit the rest of Canada.” stated Hill. “The government naïvely assumed that Canadian Pacific would continue indefinitely as the pillar of Canadian transportation it has always been. In the absence of any concrete transportation policy from the Minister of Transportation, the management of CP have had to make decisions that are in their own best interests…they are, after all, accountable to their shareholders.”

The last division of CP Ltd. to be separated and sold off was Canadian Airlines. That company did not survive its independence.

“Each of these smaller units must now either survive on their own or risk being wholly acquired by a competitor, which in most cases will be a foreign company. Piece by piece Canadians are loosing control of their transportation system. This is not an acceptable position for a country whose economy is heavily dependent on being able to export goods by rail, road and ship.”

In his response to the Speech from the Throne, Mr. Hill called on the government to develop a vision for transportation in Canada. The Canadian Alliance has been advocating new investment in transportation by returning fuel and excise taxes to the transportation system that generated them.