6 FEBRUARY 2014

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon will attend a rally at VIA's Moncton train station and then board the Ocean on Sunday March 2nd at 3:30 pm to join federal Green Party MP and Deputy Leader, Bruce Hyer on his whistlestop tour to save passenger rail service in the Maritimes.

"Rail service is the future of public transit in the Maritimes, but trains need tracks to run on, and if CN abandons the track between Miramichi and Bathurst, it will be impossible to build a convenient rail transit service between our cities and towns," said New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon.

The Green Party has launched its, "Get Canada Back on Track Campaign" with a petition and a whistlestop tour from Halifax to Montreal.   Bruce Hyer, the Green MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North is travelling on the VIA Ocean to meet with Maritimers affected by the looming elimination of their rail service and to pressure the federal government to refurbish the rail bed between Miramichi and Bathurst so the train service is not only saved, but improved. New Brunswick Green Party Leader will ride the train with Hyer to Campbellton.

" Saving our rail link with the rest of Canada is important, and the Prime Minister needs to be reminded that the rail link was a condition for us to join Canada in 1867, found in Section 145 of the BNA Act, but my vision goes further. I want to see a regional rail transit service based on self-propelled rail cars, providing daily service between northern and southern New Brunswick, and regular service for commuters between our three largest cities," said Coon. "There is nothing more efficient, green and inexpensive than operating self-propelled rail cars so people can travel for work, school, medical treatments, and family visits around New Brunswick and throughout the Maritimes," concluded Coon.