Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee is adding its voice to the cause as communities across Eastern Ontario call for VIA Rail to restore Train 651.
Following up on her previous notice of motion, councillor Ellen Johnson brought up the issue during the town’s Sept. 27 meeting.
Popular among commuters, Train 651 ran from Kingston to Toronto’s Union Station every weekday, making all stops along the way before arriving downtown Toronto at 8:30 a.m. The service was halted during the height of the pandemic when ridership dropped drastically and VIA has said there are currently no plans to reinstate the route at this time.
In making her motion Johnson referenced a report titled ‘The case for getting VIA Train 651 back on track’ which was compiled by municipal partners in Eastern Ontario.
“Be it resolved that the council of the Town of Greater Napanee endorse the results of the report and provide a letter of support to the president of VIA Rail requesting the return of Train 651, with a copy to be sent to our local MPP,” said Johnson. “And further, that council endorse staff to continue working with our regional municipalities to advocate for improved rail transit.”
Johnson’s motion received unanimous support from council.
“Initially in January of 2020 this council and staff worked on adding stops to our current VIA Rail train service, and then there was COVID,” added Johnson. “Since then, one of the main routes that people were using, route 651, was cancelled. I have had conversations with people in the community who have worked or tried to influence the return of this even before ‘The case for getting VIA Train 651 back on track’, even before that publication became known.”
Greater Napanee is far from the only community making noise in an effort to sway VIA to restore the service. On Sept. 24 over 100 people, including several local politicians, gathered at Cobourg’s VIA Rail station to call for a return to the service.
Mayor Marg Isbester noted the issue has been brought to the upper tier at Lennox and Addington County council as well.
“The GTA and all those areas are getting huge highways and so on, let’s have our train,” said Isbester. “I know several people that depended on that pre-pandemic and they had passes for VIA Rail and they were going in three days a week and because of the good Wi-Fi they could work all the way in and all the way out and the other days they were working from home. Now employers want people back in the office. I think the earliest train that I saw that went out of even Kingston on a Monday through Friday is 7:30 a.m., which of course is far too late. I think this one used to go out just before 6 a.m. if I’m not mistaken so it was perfect for working.”
-Napanee and District Multicultural Association’s Cortwright Christian appeared before council seeking $6,000 to re-ignite the Napanee Multicultural Festival.
Christian noted the festival, which ran for 12 years, was brought in under the umbrella of the town’s Waterfront Festival prior to the pandemic.
Dancers from the Kingston Irish Folk Club performed a traditional step dance during the annual Napanee Multicultural Festival, which was held last in conjunction with the Riverfront Festival. File photo.
“While we were brought in as a financially assisted entity, the name multicultural was nowhere to be found in the promotional material,” said Christian. “That meant even from the $4,000 annual stipend, we as an association had to incur our own advertising expenses, telling the wide population that we are also having a multicultural festival. We made due and continued in the spirit of expected amalgamation and coordination and growth.”
Christian said the pause due to the pandemic gave them a chance to re-evaluate and now, with financial assistance from the town, they are looking to return as their own event.
Held previously in Conservation Park, the event featured live entertainment such as Irish dancers, steel drums and a fire show along with food vendors offering cuisine from around the world.
Isbester suggested the association schedule a meeting to meet with town staff and present a detailed financial plan ahead of next month’s budget deliberations.
-Greater Napanee council will next meet on Oct. 11, which will mark the final meeting before the Oct. 24 municipal election.