One of Chatham-Kent’s newest councillors isn’t prepared to give up on a high-speed rail line stop in Chatham, despite this community being left off the initial schedule.
Darrin Canniff said it is imperative that the community works with the province to state its case.
“We definitely need to be a stop on the list. It is zero economic benefit to us if it doesn’t stop in Chatham. It’s critical we, as a municipality, begin to lobby the province now, and start becoming the squeaky wheel now,” Canniff said.
The provincial government announced plans for an integrated environmental assessment of the project at a news conference in London last Friday.
Consultation is set to begin next year, although the high-speed service won’t start for several years. Plans call for the train to stop in Kitchener-Waterloo and London only on its trip between Toronto and Windsor.
“Times weren’t mentioned (by the province) and the train can’t stop everywhere or the issue becomes that it’s no longer a high-speed train. But if you could, within an hour, be in Toronto? If you live in Chatham with its reasonable house prices and could get to work in an hour, that would be a major boon for us.”
“We have time – four years – to be the squeaky wheel,” Canniff said. “We need to work in the next year to make Chatham-Kent relevant to Queen’s Park.”
Calls to mayor Randy Hope’s office for comment weren’t returned by press time.
