The sell-off and cancellation of services offered under the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission is yet another made-in-Toronto decision to abandon the rural north.
Done, or at least at risk or in limbo, are bus and rail connections subsidized by provincial coffers. Also done are the direct employment and ancillary service jobs attached to Ontario Northland.
In effect, the province is ending an important public transportation service in the north. As a business, Ontario Northland was a losing proposition – with some estimates that it cost $400 in taxpayer dollars to cover a passenger fare for rail service from Toronto to Cochrane. It was a subsidized system in need of attention and a change in direction.
But public transportation is not a money making business venture. It is an investment of taxpayer revenue into a service that improves the lives of citizens.
The province does not make money shipping students to and from schools. And, as the province awaits the City of Toronto’s “transit city” controversy to come to an end so it can invest $4 billion in public transportation in Ontario’s capital, it’s unlikely that funding will ever be recouped.
The intangible benefits of quality of life for northern Ontario residents who could travel to and from southern Ontario, and the economic spin-off of a service used by small and large businesses in northern Ontario, made it a worthwhile investment for the north – a strategic benefit when it comes to our growth and development.
Liberal leaders don’t seem interested in rural Ontario residents. And why should they be? Most of their MPPs come from areas south of Muskoka.
Except, of course, for Sudbury Liberal Rick Bartolucci.
“We’ve made significant investments in the ONTC since 2003, but the organization is not on a sustainable financial path,” he said.
So the solution is easy. Don’t look for a way to maintain this valuable service in the north.
Make a deep cut up in rural Ontario while all of the province is struggling with debt and deficit. It’s a good strategy for the Liberals. After all, northern Ontario is a long way from Toronto.
It’s unlikely the party’s Liberal supporters in the south will care about the plight of their brethren spread out across the bulk of Ontario’s geography. We hope Bartolucci’s supporters in Sudbury notice though.