Letter to Our Federal Candidates and ALL of Milton
Milton R.A.I.L (Residents Affected by Intermodal Lines) would like to acknowledge the commitment of each of our Town, Regional and Provincial representatives currently in office. We recognize each of the representatives currently running for a Federal office position. We thank each and every one of you for standing up to represent and serve your community. We recognize that anyone in a political position ztoday did not anticipate the added burden and responsibility of dealing with CN’s proposed intermodal terminal project.
We recognize this is naturally a part of your platform for the current Federal Campaign, as the proposed CN Logistics Hub is the biggest issue Milton has faced to date. We are not asking you to confirm this as part of your platform today, or for the upcoming weeks as you may expect. What we do want to know is how strong is your commitment? Only one of you will be voted in to office for this election. We want to know how strong your commitment is, and will you be standing beside us and the person elected, to continue to give your support to stop the proposed CN intermodal after October 19th? Will you be standing on October 20th and remain standing for this cause? Ask yourself: how committed are you to this campaign? After all, you are each residents of Milton and will be impacted by this project should it go through.
We need a strong team of support. Our elected officials must all work together towards this common goal. Realistically this fight will continue for a few years. It is not only likely that we will see a new municipal government before this is over, we will see new municipal, provincial and federal government before this is over. So please do not use this as your platform to simply obtain votes. Commit to the entire fight not only because it is the right thing to do for you and your family, but for the current and future residents’ of Milton and Halton.
Today we encourage you to become completely familiar with the processes; the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Panel Review Process; the Canadian Transportation Agency application and what happens if the decision goes to Cabinet? No one person can stop this project, and it may go to the Cabinet for a decision. In the meantime ALL levels of government must coordinate to stop this. We need to put pressure on our Provincial Government to become involved
We need to do this not only to protect our community, but also to protect the next community in Canada who may be faced with such a project. Only in Canada, do the railways feel they are exempt from the local, municipal and provincial regulations. In the US railways are required to work with local municipalities and this MUST change in Canada.
Our local fight is an example of how any community in Canada can be impacted and even violated by railway companies like CN. This is not simply a local issue. We are setting a precedent for the next Canadian community facing the railways’ next project proposal.
You may liken this issue to a big family wedding. You may not like everyone that is invited to the party, you may not want to sit at the same table, but you are all there for one common component. So remember you will need to work with all of the people in the community and in various levels of government. Those roles and positions and parties may change over the next few years. Remember why you are running for office and know that you can’t anticipate who will be seated at your table next.
Let’s leave a clear mark for the next group that comes to the table, we don’t want to start at the beginning at each change of government. We simply don’t have the time to waste!
Sincerely,
Rita Vogel Post
Chairman, Milton RAIL
Lets STOP CN IN ITS TRACKS!!
www.MiltonRAIL.com
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