The Remote Passenger Rail Program is budgeted to receive $11 million from the federal government.
The program assists in running two passenger rail lines, including The Pas-Pukatawagan railway, and provides funding to the Keewatin Railway Company, a First Nations-owned group that owns and operates passenger and freight service on the The Pas-Pukatawagan line. Keewatin receives operating grants from the federal and provincial governments, as well as several First Nations communities in northern Manitoba.
The group purchased the line, formerly owned by Hudson Bay Railway Company and Omnitrax, in 2006. A railway running from Sept-Îles, Que., to several remote communities is the other rail line that receives funding from the program.
The budget as a whole includes measures to promote gender equality, a preliminary pharmacare program and almost half a billion dollars in scientific research. Over the next fiscal year, the budget projects a deficit of more than $18 billion. This year’s budget also includes $20 million in funding to combat opioid abuse in western Canada and a plan to double job placements under the Canada Summer Jobs program, as well as measures to improve access to Canada Child Benefits for people living in remote northern communities and on reserves.
