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'The answer was ambiguous, to say the least': HCR task force comes back from AMO meeting without funding commitment

Steve Butland, HCR task force still looking for answers leading up to potential closure of Huron Central Railway at years end
Huron Central Ry
File photo. Northern Ontario Business

Steve Butland says that the anticipated meeting between Huron Central Railway (HCR) supporters and the province’s Minister of Energy, Mines, Northern Development and Indigenous Affairs didn’t exactly go as planned during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) meeting in Ottawa this past week.

Butland - who was appointed as a volunteer co-chair of the resurrected HCR task force earlier this year-  says he was joined by HCR president Louis Gravel and the railway’s vice president of project development, as well as a representative from EACOM Timber Corporation, in order to secure verbal commitment for HCR funding from both federal and provincial levels of government.

Butland was advised by Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano that minister Greg Rickford had roughly 70 meeting requests during the AMO meeting, and that meetings with the minister would be a maximum of 15 minutes.

“To put our case forward for the continuation of Huron Central, I don’t think we could get it in in 15 minutes,” Butland said.

In May, Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc. - the parent company of Huron Central Railway - announced that it would discontinue service on its 283-kilometre, short line railway that connects Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury by the end of 2018 if it doesn’t get $42 million over five years from the federal and provincial governments for upgrades and repairs.

Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc.’s application for a grant from the National Trade and Corridors Fund (NTCF) was rejected in April 2018.  

Sault Ste. Marie’s Algoma steel plant, Domtar in Espanola and EACOM Timber Corporation in Nairn Centre are all serviced by Huron Central Railway.

During the AMO meeting, Butland did manage to fire off a question to Rickford directly during what’s called a ‘bear pit session’ with several ministers.

Butland told SooToday that he brought up Premier Doug Ford’s campaign promise that funding would be made possible through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

“The answer was ambiguous, to say the least,” Butland said.

Butland and the HCR supporters also went to the federal government during the AMO meeting in search of a financial commitment, but federal minister of transport Marc Garneau wasn’t available.

Instead, the group had what Butland calls a “positive meeting” with Garneau’s assistant and his policy adviser.    

“Optically, it’s always better to meet with the minister, but to be real, I have some knowledge of how the system works,” Butland said. “It’s probably better to meet with a policy advisor, because he brings forward a recommendation to the minister.”

Garneau’s policy advisor told Butland that he would look into other potential funding mechanisms besides the NTCF and get back to him in a week’s time.

“He said given the situation, there may be other envelopes of money that Huron Central should try to access,” Butland said.

Blind River bows out

While Butland and company have drummed up about 20 letters of support from towns and municipalities between the Sault and Sudbury, Blind River voted against supporting the HCR funding bid during an Aug. 13 council meeting.

During that meeting, councillor Clifford Spratt said he was concerned about a company always asking government for funding.

The HCR was given $33 million in funding from the provincial and federal governments in 2010 for rehabilitation and modernization of the rail line.

“When you’re in business, you’re there to make money,” he said. “If you’re not… then you move on.”

Butland says that Blind River’s move to not support the HCR funding bid “defies explanation.”

“It was a total surprise to us, and they really didn’t give a reason, although the initial letter before council said, ‘no, we don’t approve this,’” Butland said. “The philosophy, the theory is good, but practically? I don’t know why they would make that statement.”

Butland says that the move is also somewhat curious, given what’s at stake.

“Upwards of a thousand people, directly or indirectly employed, will be without a job,” Butland said.

He uses Domtar’s presence in Espanola as an example.

“Espanola, for all intents and purposes, would close,” Butland said. “I don’t know how they would withstand that kind of layoff.”

“It’s that significant.”

Next steps

Butland is now calling for an “urgent response” from the federal and provincial governments to make the $42 million commitment, given that railway workers will probably have to be given six to eight weeks’ notice of any impending layoffs should the company shut down the HCR.

The HCR task force - which is comprised of Butland, former Sault Ste. Marie chief administrative officer Joe Fratesi and local HCR representative Alison Horbatuk - will attend their next weekly task force meeting in order to map out its next moves.

It’s expected that Ross Romano will be asked to assist in facilitating a meeting between the HCR task force and minister Rickford - a meeting that Butland expected to take place this week, but didn’t.

“That was a bit of a disappointment, but at the same time, in the end it’s probably a good thing,” Butland said. “I’m confident we’ll meet with the minister in the next short while.”

The railway - which has a 40-year lease from Canadian Pacific Railway - currently employs 43 people in Sault Ste. Marie.

- with files from Kris Svela


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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