Hi Supporters!
Exciting news! I was recently interviewed by Capital Region Watch, a community television show "Delivering you the most important community news on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands." Give them a follow, they cover things happening outside mainstream media.
This interview happened before the CRD, Songhees, and Esquimalt Nation "Reconciliation Corridor" agreement was signed, so I didn't get to mention that, but that's ok because we covered a lot of details surrounding the corridor.
The excitement around LRT in the Capital Regional District is obvious as Mayors have started posting "Imagining rail in the CRD" images of LRT, Trams and Trains. Hopefully we will start to see that start in the Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Alberni-Clayoquot, and Comox Valley Regional Districts too.
Let's keep blowing on these embers of hope and spreading the word!
Political pressure is the one tool we have to change the minds of those with the power to effect change. Don't forget to write your MLA's, MP's, and if you are so bold, the Prime Minister and the Premier of BC like I did...
Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney,
Premier David Eby,
Honourable Steven MacKinnon,
Honourable Mike Farnworth,
Honourable Bowinn Ma,
Honourable Christine Boyle,
Honourable Gregor Robertson,
Honourable Randene Neill,
Honourable Spencer Chandra Herbert,
I'm writing to you today regarding the Vancouver Island Rail Corridor.
Standing with me are over 34,253 online petitioners, 17,000 social media followers, and a growing Restore Island Rail Society membership, an organization I founded this year. I have had a petition for island rail spoken to in the House of Commons in the past with Petition e-4576 in 2024 with 7610 signatures.
Vancouver Island is the coast that is often forgotten when people say “from coast to coast to coast” talking about Canada. Yet our 460km long, 100km wide island was the catalyst that created British Columbia and cemented Canada as a Nation in the late 1800’s. And, while a promise was made at that time for the island to have a railway in perpetuity, the reasons for restoring it in 2026 are multi-faceted and deeply connected to many socio-economic challenges faced on Vancouver Island. Dare to dream big.
Ask yourself:
How do you set the stage for new industries to come to Vancouver Island in lieu of a falling forestry sector while creating new jobs simultaneously?
How do you manage population growth with minimal impact on the land?
How do you address Malahat congestion and the traffic issues in the Capital Regional District from Westshore/Langford to Victoria in a timely fashion?
How do you lower emissions and provide an attractive accessible alternative for an estimated 20-40% of the population who aren’t allowed to drive, shouldn’t drive, or can’t afford to drive?
How do you move heavy and dangerous materials up and down the island safely without mixing it with untrained, distracted, and often time-pressured commuting drivers?
How do you give Vancouver Island’s tourism industry a huge boost, greater reach, and more relevance on the world stage?
How do you enable affordable high-density housing with low parking requirements and reduced utility infrastructure costs?
How do you enable more people to walk and roll by bike and other micro-mobility devices?
How do you organize transit services from Courtenay and Port Alberni to Nanaimo and Victoria into a seamless, easy to navigate integrated system of travel?
You do all these things by reimagining the Island Rail Corridor with modern trains and trails beside it for a true multi-modal and diverse transportation corridor experience.
Moving in any other direction will create travel demand pressures that would either stifle the economic momentum the island has built with highway projects too expensive to justify, or cost Canadian and British Columbian taxpayers an order of magnitude more to temporarily ease the congestion. The island rail corridor can provide an alternate way to move people and products on Vancouver Island, and if the corridor is properly maintained, it would also provide a firebreak.
Please consider prioritizing the Island Rail Corridor as a nation building project so the island can benefit from everything I've listed above and flourish for another 140 years. We need strong leadership to make this happen and I hope you are those leaders.
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Thank you for your amazing support!
Warren Skaalrud
Petitioner