Mr. Chair, honourable committee members, thank you for allowing me to address you today.

I'm here to give Drummondville a voice on the high frequency rail, or HFR, project, which is to be introduced in Quebec and Canada.

I'll start by saying a few words about Drummondville. Drummondville is the 14th-largest city in Quebec and the primary city in the Centre-du-Québec administrative region. It is located halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Over the past decade, its population has increased significantly year over year, and the city has experienced ongoing development. Drummondville is recognized for its vitality and its role as an economic driver, and the local community continues to build on this momentum.

One of the many advantages that make Drummondville so successful is its strategic geographic location. The city is at the crossroads of major highways, right in the heart of the most densely populated area of Quebec. In fact, 75% of Quebec's population is within a 90-minute drive of our city. With more people travelling between Drummondville and major urban centres, mobility issues are inevitable. In the context of the project before us today, Drummondville needs to be a well-positioned player. We think Drummondville is the ideal location to serve as a transportation hub for 21st-century solutions to intercity transportation. In fact our city, really, our entire community, has been a long-time proponent of the HFR project, which was first spearheaded by Via Rail. However—and this is very important to note—the City’s support for this project has always been and continues to be conditional on maintaining, improving and enhancing services on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, in a context where Drummondville facilities would serve as an important stop, or hub, between Montreal and Quebec City, just like Kingston is between Toronto and Montreal.

One of your witnesses, Pierre Barrieau, pointed out it was important not to abandon south shore passengers. The relevance of this hub is therefore based on a concrete, proven logic. The people of Drummondville, and many others who live in the southern shores of the St. Lawrence, would then be linked to Ontario and Toronto, connecting to Montreal through the HFR. However, implementing HFR service should not involve cutting service to areas that currently have it. Providing a high level of service will contribute to the cultural and modal shifts needed to ensure the successful implementation of HFR and the resulting improvement of services on the south shore. The cities of Drummondville and Trois-Rivières immediately understood the benefits of this project and agreed to support it with one voice. Instead of pitting the north shore and the south shore against each other, we chose to promote collaboration between the north and south shores. Via Rail was also quick to support the position that a north shore route using dedicated train tracks would not replace existing rail service in regions on the south shore, including Drummondville, where dozens of people take the train every day to go to Quebec City or Montreal.

In August 2016, the CEO of Via Rail confirmed that the development of HFR would involve repositioning the passenger transportation strategy on the south shore of the St. Lawrence by creating a hub in Drummondville for intercity transportation. Around that time, Via Rail also announced that trains between Montreal and Quebec City would become more frequent, increasing gradually to eight trains in each direction over a period of two to three years. This commitment has not yet been met.

In addition to the issue of train frequency, we are dealing with issues related to train service times and reliability. When it comes to the current situation, there is no definitive answer. Many delays are due to the fact that passenger trains and freight trains share the same train tracks, with priority given to freight, since the tracks are owned by CN. The result is long waits on sidings that end up discouraging people from taking the train. All of these issues limit passenger growth.

In closing, we would like to reiterate the City of Drummondville’s firm commitment and collaboration on this file. This is a priority issue for elected officials in Drummondville, for the city's municipal government, and, above all, for the entire population of our region.

I will be pleased to answer your questions, of course.