The following letter to the editor was submitted as an open letter to Prescott-Russell-Cumberland Member of Parliament (MP) Giovanna Mingarelli.
Ms. Mingarelli,
As residents of the riding in which we elected you to represent us, I, and my many rural neighbours, ask something in return.
We ask you to do whatever is necessary to have the high-speed train project removed from Bill C-15 and cancelled outright.
We ask you to do your own objective and rational research into the economic impact of this project and not to be influenced by the grossly overstated ‘benefits’ touted by those very few who seek to gain from it.
Please do so very quickly so that your voice, and those other MPs who we ask you to influence, is heard before C-15 is forced upon us!
Very, very few in your riding, or in the other ridings impacted by this, will benefit from faster travel between a handful of cities.
Many, many will be damaged by it, and often severely, by expropriation of their land, bisection of their farms, truncation of the rural roads their community depends upon, years of upheaval, noise and stress during construction.
Yet again rural communities are being sacrificed to the cities!
Another Mirabel!
The fundamental needs of ALL Canadians are VERY much better access to timely health care, MUCH more affordable housing for the young people who follow us, and education systems that develop the latent potential of those young people.
Our society must not divert many billions of dollars from the above fundamental needs to reducing travel time between a few cities in two provinces.
Spend the money where it truly benefits Canadians.
Geoff Anderson
Vankleek Hill
