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If there is one thing Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli and Sudbury MPP Jamie West do agree on it's that passenger rail will not be restored to the north before the 2022 election, as promised by now-Premier Doug Ford and Fedeli while campaigning in 2018.
Fedeli, also the Ontario PC Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and West — the NDP critic for Northern Infrastructure, Transportation and Roads — have been going back and forth on the legitimacy of the Ford government's efforts to get passenger rail back on the rails in northeastern Ontario.
When the government announced the target completion date for the next stage of planning and design work would be 2022, possibly allowing for a potential resumption of passenger rail service between Toronto–North Bay–Timmins/Cochrane by the mid-2020s, West was prepared with a statement of his own.
"More than three years later, and nearing the end of their term in government, the Ford government just gave us a plan to build a potential plan for years in the future. Sounds like more election promises with no train in sight. Clearly, the Northlander was never a priority for Doug Ford, Vic Fedeli, and the Conservative government."
On both traditional and social media platforms, Fedeli responded to West's claims.
"It's unfortunate that Jamie West and the rest of the NDP Caucus did not support Northern Ontario in the recent budget," said Fedeli.
"They voted against the $5 million funding for the return of passenger rail service, an extra $50 million to support the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, and $5 million to support the Ontario Junior Exploration Program. Sadly, the NDP voted against every single one of those Northern supports and measures, without offering a single Amendment to the Budget."
Meanwhile, the NDP notes, the total budget is a $186-billion spending package — only $5 million goes to the northern transportation planning — in the form of a mention in the provincial budget of general planning work on "initiatives to meet transportation needs in the north to optimize bus services and to develop options for passenger rail services across Northern Ontario."
"Mr. Fedeli is spinning tales because he got caught failing to stand up for the North again. He campaigned on a promise to have the Northlander back on the rails by the 2022 election, and now wants people to settle for a possible, potential future return of the Northlander years from now," West responded.
"That’s not good enough for the north. The Northlander should never have been taken away by the Liberals, and northern families deserve a government that will prioritize and fund its immediate return."
West has continued to call for funding for passenger rail, along with a clear timeline for when the trains will hit the tracks.
"The Liberals and Conservatives have already cut and limited other transit options — like the Northlander — and Doug Ford needs to tell us how he’s going to fill the massive gap left behind. Regional transportation is an essential service. It should not be left up to a for-profit corporation.
"New Democrats have long been calling for the expansion of the province’s two existing public regional transportation companies, GO and Ontario Northland. Now is the time to do it."
Until the McGuinty Liberal minority government discontinued the Northlander and it took its final voyage in September 2012, it had serviced the Toronto to Cochrane corridor since 1976. McGuinty unexpectedly resigned as party leader the next month.
Besides the need for any return of rail to be subsidized, the business case presented in late May leaves several options to be determined, including whether the train will end in North Bay or whether the seeming preferred option of the stakeholders will see it continue to connect with the Polar Bear Express. That train is the only consistent transportation option for travellers north of Cochrane. An option to have a new passenger rail terminate in Timmins would necessitate a bus ride between there and Cochrane to make connections.