Cape Breton Rail is an historic transportation link
SYDNEY, NS – Cape Breton Progressive Conservative MLAs want to know why there are two sets of standards for determining what can be deemed transportation links in the province of Nova Scotia.
At the Public Accounts Committee, the McNeil Liberals were questioned about the millions of dollars they are sinking into the Yarmouth ferry. Transportation Deputy Minster Paul Lafleche remarked that the ferry was “not about economics, but about re-establishing historical transportation links.”
That response got Alfie MacLeod thinking about the Cape Breton railway.
“If the government is so committed to historical transportation links, then why do they continue to put the Cape Breton rail at risk?”, MacLeod asks. “Sounds like a double standard to me.”
Eddie Orrell agrees.
“If that is indeed a policy being set out by this government, I think there is a very good argument to be made that the Cape Breton railway would fit within those parameters,” Orrell said. “Not only is the railway an historical transportation link, but it’s an economic driver for the region. If that railway line is torn up, that’s a real economic blow for those who have historically relied on the railway to transport goods and support jobs.”
Both MacLeod and Orrell are requesting the Minister of Transportation Geoff MacLellan and his Deputy Minister to revisit the rail line with those standards in mind.