Regional chair supportive of high-speed rail environmental assessment

Regional Chair Ken Seiling says he's in favour of an environmental assessment going forward by the province with regard to high-speed rail.

Seiling says although the third party pre-feasibility report for the province was rushed ahead of the election, the important part is that the province will be moving ahead with an environmental assessment to identify a service plan and route between Windsor and Toronto.

"The worst thing that could have been was that they rushed and did something initially, announce something before the election, and then as soon as the election is over they drop it," said Seiling.

"We'll be talking to them in terms of how our transit hub fits into those plans and what this means for service coming in and out of Toronto," added Seiling.

Regional Coun. Sean Strickland also said he was in favour of an environmental assessment going forward, and was not overly concerned with the timeline of the pre-feasibility report.  

"When you're in a competitive election and you say and do things that probably after the election you wished you would have had a little more time to think about," said Strickland.

"But the point of the matter is when it comes to high speed rail, and increased rail transit, along the corridor from Quebec City all the way down to Windsor, we need it. We're generations behind."