My question is to the Associate Minister of Transportation.

Many people in northern Ontario know the difficulties of winter weather and how it can create travel conditions that make it hard to travel to Toronto from rural, remote and northern parts of our province. In the past, many individuals and families in northern Ontario relied on the service provided by the Northlander train system to help them. Individuals would use this service to visit their families, attend medical appointments, conduct business trips, and for work. Unfortunately, the previous Liberal government that was supported by the NDP did not believe this service was important and cancelled passenger rail service between Toronto and Cochrane. Our government needs to demonstrate leadership and restore this vital transit system.

Can the Associate Minister of Transportation please provide an update on how our government’s progress to resume the Northlander is going?

This is encouraging news for many of the individuals and families from our province’s rural, remote and northern communities. People and businesses in these communities rely on a safe, convenient transportation network to get where they need to go and to keep our goods moving.

Passenger rail supports families, tourism, manufacturing, jobs, innovation and economic growth, all while keeping the people of Ontario connected—even to WiFi. That is why it is so vital that we, as a government, ensure the essential transit service is restored.

Speaker, can the associate minister explain what further measures our government is taking to ensure that the Northlander service is fully restored?