Dear Editor,
Greyhound's threat to abandon routes in northern Ontario, Manitoba is a sad example of how the mobility of Canadians can be held hostage by foreign corporate interests. If we had a viable trans-national passenger transportation policy in this country, we would be immune to such threats.
Greyhound is also reviewing its operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, BC, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories because they claim unprofitable route services to small-town Canada are a threat to their profits. What they are pandering for are federal and provincial government subsidies and tax breaks. Greyhound's operating revenues already exceeds $1 billion.
This whole situation points clearly to Canada's lack of a coherent passenger transportation policy. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have gutted rail transportation in this country over the past three decades and deregulated the transportation industry. It was only a matter of time before our rural communities were threatened with isolation. Today, unless people can afford their own vehicles, they cannot call themselves full citizens in rural Canada. The irony of this is that rural Canada has been suffering economic hardship in a more extreme way than urban Canada over the last 30 years. I guess it's time all those poor rural dwellers moved into the city.
Greyhound is headquartered in Texas and while it has a subsidiary office in Canada, decisions about Canadian routes are made by a foreign owned company whose goals revolve around profit and not the well being of the Canadian people. It is a national tragedy that rural Canadians should be held hostage by the corporate threats of Greyhound. The government of Canada has a responsibility to keep Canadians linked, mobile and contributing to this country. Canada needs a new passenger transportation plan that includes all Canadians... not just those who live in urban centres.
William Munsey
Transport Critic
Green Party of Canada
New Serepta, Alta.