Manitoba, Ottawa spar over northern rail line

Federal and provincial politicians are exchanging barbsin a spat over a key rail line in northern Manitoba.

The Hudson Bay line, 1,300 kilometres of former Canadian National track between The Pas and Churchill, is considered a critical transportation link to northern Manitoba, bringing tourists and cargo to and from remote northern communities.

Manitoba Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux says the line is essential to the future of the port of Churchill, but his lobbying to get the federal government to realize this has so far fallen on deaf ears.

"I'm concerned for the long-term viability of that Hudson Bay line, and I think all of us should be, because the impact is not only for the people that live along the Bay line, but for the port," he said. "The key, I believe, to the port of Churchill is that Hudson Bay line."

But Manitoba's senior cabinet minister, Vic Toews, says Lemieux's complaint about not being heard is unjustified. If Lemieux wanted to access federal funds for the rail line, he should have said so during recent talks, Toews said.

"To say that the federal government is not responding to a need is a very curious thing, given that that rail line falls within provincial jurisdiction and the remedy is to sit down with the federal government, identify short-line funding as a priority for the province, so it can be included," he said.

"The province had not identified the shortline rails as a priority order under the old infrastructure program, nor in its most recent discussions, just in the last couple of weeks,did it identify shortline rails as a priority to my officials."

Lemieux insists he has brought the matter up with the federal government a number of times.

"I just believe that the federal government cannot just acquiesce and say that this is not their problem, it's somebody else's problem, because the federal government should be the glue that holds this country together," he said.

Lemieux is now pushing to get the shortline along with others in the country also facing tough times on the agenda at a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial transportation ministers in Saskatoon in October.

Via Rail, which runs passenger trains on the line, has cancelled or delayedservice several timesin recent weeks over track maintenance concerns and derailments.

Via officials said the company's trains between Churchill and Winnipeg are back on schedule Friday but officials said they are fed up with the ongoing maintenance issues and improvements must be made if passenger service on the track is to continue.

The rail line, and the port facilities in Churchill, are owned by the Denver-based company OmniTRAX. During a service disruption last month, company officials said it was a challenge to fix the rail line quickly because of its remote location.