Hon. Andrew Cardozo: My question is for the Government Representative. It has been reported that the federal and provincial governments are planning to build high-speed rail between Quebec City and Toronto. This will be a welcome addition to our infrastructure that will cut journey times, improve productivity, allow us to build more housing along the transit corridor and help us meet our climate goals. As a senator from Ontario and, indeed, from Ottawa, I want to ask if the plan is to include high-speed rail that will come to Ottawa, given that it both is a government town and has a strong high-tech sector.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question, although I don’t know the answer. I would hope that high-speed rail service would be available to those coming to or from Ottawa, as I will look forward to it being in place for other communities along the corridor. I just don’t know exactly what stage the planning is at, senator.

Senator Cardozo: Thank you. My supplementary question is regarding the manufacturing and the building of this railway. I was wanting to ask whether the trains and tracks and other components will be built by Canadian companies or companies in Canada, supporting Canadian jobs and the Canadian economy, and, from what we learned from the Ottawa LRT, whether the trains will actually function in cold weather. While that would have been my question, my request is that you put these issues to the ministers concerned and that these issues be addressed.

Senator Gold: Duly noted. I would be happy to do so.