Petition to the Government of Canada
  Whereas:
  
    VIA Rail’s Montreal to Halifax train (The Ocean) was recently forced to increase travel time by 90 minutes due to insufficient maintenance and track deterioration on the privately-owned Newcastle Subdivision between Cambellton and Moncton, NB;
    The Ocean’s travel time has increased by nearly 5-hours since the 1990s, part of a long-term pattern of short-term, profit-motivated decisions by private rail companies which hamper passenger rail and decrease the resilience of freight rail, Canada’s most low-carbon mode of transportation;
    In its 120th year, the Ocean is the longest continually operating train in North America, attracting international tourists and contributing to the Maritimes’ status as an international tourism destination;
    Since 2020, the Ocean provides the only ground transportation service between the Maritime provinces and the rest of Canada;
    The unreliability of the Ocean’s schedule has meant that direct connections have deteriorated, with this latest change all but severing PEI from the national network;
    The Ocean serves as the only public transportation servicing the communities between Bathurst and Eel River, and Rogersville, NB;
    Call to Justice 4.8 from the National Inquiry into Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls report calls for all of Canada to be connected by safe, affordable, and reliable modes of public transit; and
    Passenger rail is a safe, efficient, sustainable, affordable, and accessible mode of public transportation.
  
  
    We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
    1. Provide immediate funding for the rehabilitation of the Newcastle Subdivision; and
    2. Study the viability of purchasing the Newcastle Subdivision so that infrastructure can be used to the fullest extent of public benefit.