Blind River council supports railway bid

Blind River council has endorsed a motion to support for Huron Central Railway’s bid to secure some $42 million in government funding.

A motion of support was brought to council at Monday evening’s meeting after a similar motion was defeated by council in August. It was Mayor Sue Jensen who brought the support motion to council after meeting with representatives from the railway.

Huron Central is owned by the Genesee and Wyoming Company of Canada, which is seeking provincial and federal funding to operate the 283-kilometre rail corridor between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. The money would be used for ongoing maintenance and upgrades to the line.

Huron Central ships goods from three northern Ontario companies – Domtar, Algoma Steel and Eacom. It has been seeking support from local municipalities along the line, including Blind River, to strengthen its funding bid.

Sault Ste. Marie council has already given its support to the bid after Huron Central notified the city that without the funding it would cease operation by the end of the year. In May, Sault council approved a resolution supporting the company’s funding bid and was seeking support from other municipalities along the line.

The rail service received some $33 million in federal and provincial funding in 2009 also needed to keep it operating, citing insufficient freight volumes to generate revenue needed to maintain and rehabilitate the line. The federal-provincial money was given at the time.

Councillor Ken Kennedy continued his opposition to the motion at Monday’s meeting.

“They don’t have a plan where they won’t come back to the government to bail them out every few years,” he said. “Here it is a company that should be making a profit and looking for customers and they still have the same customers they had eight years ago. We haven’t shipped any freight from Blind River since 1970.”

The councillor suggested the company should have been looking to attract more customers along the line including Blind River’s Cameco Corporation.

Councillor HP Roy wanted to know why the motion was being brought back by the mayor who originally voted to oppose it in August.

Mayor Jensen said those working for the company or associated with the rail line use restaurants and motel accommodations when they do business in the area. She said the railway has been “liaising” with Cameco to see whether the railway could be used to ship uranium from its facility and she said the nearby Lafarge Canada limestone facility ships product periodically on the railway.

“Until they pull up their socks and want to run it like a railroad I’m not interested in giving them any more money,” Councillor Clifford Spratt said, agreeing with Councillor Kennedy.

Councillor Jim Dunbar, who supported the motion in August, renewed his support.

He said he preferred that some of the products being shipped remain in rail cars and not transport trucks using the highway.

The rail company has contended that without the line there would be a 40,000 increase in truck traffic.

Councillor Paula Summers renewed her support of the motion.

“I’m thinking about all the transports that would be on the highway if we didn’t have this train and it’s a lot more money to fix the highways,” she said. “I think a big thing is keeping these transports off the highway.”

In a recorded vote councillors Spratt and Kennedy voted against the motion, while Mayor Jensen and councillors Steve Wells, Roy, Dunbar and Summers voted in favour.

The motion of support will be sent to Sault council and the railway.