Since the Ontario govt supposedly agreed to pay half the cost of the CLF Private Road, they should be willing to put up at least the same amount for the CCC Public Railway, in my opinion. Though the federal Conservatives prefer big companies over small, and really seem to like American connections, surely it is not much of a stretch to see them putting in some of the finance also. Between the two levels of govt they should be up to covering half the cost with loans, guarantees, etc. Which would leave something like $800 million for others, including the Ontario Northland employees union, allied with the CAW, possibly. A proposed Port Authority might run the enterprise.

The involvement of unions, of course, means the Conservatives will not like any proposal, no matter how beneficial it may be, but let's hope they take a realistic look before their reflexes kick in.

Gravelle's last comment on the subject --

'Gravelle said he understood the unions met with Bartolucci last year with the expectation that a formal business proposal was coming.

“We haven't seen that yet and I think it's fair to say that it's difficult to respond to a proposal unless there's an actual business plan.”

Gravelle refused to speculate if some of the unique public-private arrangement is under discussion and gave no indication when all these meetings might produce a tangible result.

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Industry-News/transportation/2013/09/ONTC-unions-want-talks-with-government.aspx