Location: National
Issue/Source: Huron Central Railway under the National Trade Corridors Fund
Date: April 29, 2021
Suggeted responses
- The National Trade Corridors Fund is a merit-based program designed to help infrastructure owners and users invest in the critical assets that support economic activity in Canada.
- These major investments will help Canadian businesses compete, grow and create more jobs for Canada’s middle class everywhere across the country.
If pressed
- Transport Canada has received many excellent proposals; however, only those projects that align most closely with the objectives of the National Trade Corridors Fund and Canada’s Export Diversification Strategy are selected for funding.
- Applicants are advised on the status of their submissions, once a final decision has been made by the Minister of Transport.
Background information
- Established in 1997, Huron Central Railway is a provincially-regulated railway managed by Genesee and Wyoming Canada Inc. that operates 179 miles (288 km) of railway track between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury, Ontario. The track is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway and is operated under a lease agreement that expires in 2040. The railway has 44 employees. Its main customers are Algoma Steel, DOMTAR and EACOM.
- Between 2017 and July 2020, Huron Central Railway applied three times to the National Trade Corridors Fund. These applications were not recommended for funding, nor was Huron Central Railway invited to submit a comprehensive project proposal. The last expression of interest was received in July 2020 and asked for [ATIP redacted] in federal funding.
- Genesee and Wyoming Canada Inc. noted in a news release on December 11, 2020, its intention to cease Huron Central Railway’s operations by June 30, 2021. They are seeking funding from the federal and provincial governments to rehabilitate the rail line. The railway was previously slated to cease operations in December 2020, and previous to that in early 2020 from their news release of October 7, 2019.
- Huron Central Railway has received government funding in the past to support its operations: $15 million in federal funding under the Building Canada Fund (2011-2016), and the Ontario government through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund provided $882,650 in 2017 and $980,000 in 2018.