Tell your MP: Save the Vancouver Island Railway

Canada must act by March 14 to save the railway

Train services on Vancouver Island have been suspended since 2011, because the track needs repairs.

Getting the trains running again on Vancouver Island would provide safe, comfortable, and low-emission travel for residents and visitors.

The Island Corridor Foundation has prepared a business plan that would provide modern train services, several times per day, and reconnect local industries to the rail-based supply chain, and has submitted that plan to the government.

Canada should move forward with this plan to support the Island's growing population and economy. But there's a problem: Because the government has waited so long to repair the line, its legal status as a transportation corridor is now being tested by the courts.

The railway on Vancouver Island faces a March 14, 2023 deadline set by the BC courts in September 2021 for the federal government to confirm Canada still considers the railway to be “in the public interest” and to make investments in the line to ensure its continued operation. We've got to use it, or lose it. While the government is considering its response it is imperative they understand the importance of this key corridor to the future of Vancouver Island!

Use the form on this page to send a letter to your MP, and let your representative know they must not miss the train!

Learn more about the railway:

Tell your MP: Save the Vancouver Island Railway

Send your personalized letter to your Member of Parliament and let them know that you want Vancouver Island to have modern passenger rail.

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Dear [recipient name will go here],

I want to see trains running again on Vancouver Island, providing safe, comfortable, and low-emission travel for residents and visitors.

The railway on Vancouver Island faces a March 14 deadline set by the BC courts for the federal government to confirm Canada still considers the railway to be “in the public interest” and a “Crown Corridor” as defined in the Te'mexw Treaty Association Agreement-in-Principle, which the federal government wishes to retain for railway use and to make investments in the line to ensure its continued operation, securing the long-term future of sustainable transportation for all people on Vancouver Island.

The government's silence on this issue over the past two years deeply concerns me. If Canada is committed to reconciliation, why did our government not respond properly to the original court case? If Canada is committed to sustainable public transportation, why does our government not reopen a railway line that needs only basic repairs?

If the deadline is not met, the railway corridor will revert piecemeal to the Island's First Nations, and not even be available for use as a trail, making the island entirely dependent on highways that are frequently closed by bad weather, and travel around the Island very difficult for people who do not drive.

Sincerely,

[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] 
[your location will go here]

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