CBRM officials upset at being left out of talks on big rail decisions

The Nova Scotia government is making big decisions about the future of train transportation in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, whose council members are wondering why they're being left out of the discussion.

Last week, the province admitted it was ending a subsidy for the unused tracks that cross the island, and announced funding for a study on light-rail passenger train service between Sydney and Cape Breton University.

Neither CBRM nor Novaporte — the company given the right to develop the municipality's harbour property — was consulted on the subsidy decision, Coun. Darren Bruckschwaiger said Tuesday.

"We're out of the conversation," he told council. "Things are happening and we're not involved."

CBRM paid $6 million to purchase a harbour property in 2012 with hopes of developing a container terminal, but without a rail line, that idea will never happen, Bruckschwaiger said.

"We've got a taxpayers' investment here ... we've got to figure out what's going on."

Bruckschwaiger asked council to call for a meeting with CN, which recently bought a stake in the rail line across Cape Breton, to determine the railway company's intentions for the future.

Council unanimously supported the idea.

'It's not right,' says councillor

The councillor also expressed concern over the way the province made the decision to cancel the rail subsidy, saying Economic Development Minister Susan Corkum-Greek specifically named Novaporte as one of the local companies she consulted.

Bruckschwaiger said Novaporte told him it had spoken with the minister about several things, but ending the rail subsidy was not "formally" discussed.

"I'm requesting CN to come to find out what they can tell us, and we should probably do the same with the minister ... because we're just in the dark here and it's not right," he said.

Mayor Amanda McDougall said she asked for information about the end of the rail subsidy last week, but Corkum-Greek's office had not responded by Tuesday evening.

"It got more worrisome when reviewing that information that came from the legislature, from the minister, stating that she had consulted with Novaporte, only to find out that wasn't true," McDougall later told reporters.

"That signals a little bit of a red flag to me."

McDougall also said no one from CBRM was consulted on the light-rail study, either. 

"That's not something the municipality is even considering right now."

The Department of Economic Development told CBC News that CBRM will have the opportunity to weigh in.

"We value our relationship with CBRM and their input on economic development," the department said Wednesday in an email. "We can assure them that as part of the feasibility study led by CBU, there will be a role for their input."

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