Money an obstacle to relocating Winnipeg rail yards

A Winnipeg MP's proposal to relocate the city's central Canadian Pacific rail yards is receiving mixed reviews.

Pat Martin, the NDP representative for Winnipeg Centre, suggests the 89-hectare rail yards which have separated downtown from the North End neighbourhood for more than a century should be moved to allow redevelopment of the site.

Myron Schultz, who owns a business on nearby Dufferin Avenue, said he could think of 100 better uses for the land than a rail yard, but he predicted problems moving them.

"What the cost of doing that is, is a whole other question," he said. "Whether there's other priorities, both for the city and for businesses, that's another question again."

The cost of moving the tracks is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Without financial support from the federal and provincial governments, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz said the proposal will have to be a good idea, left for another day.

"We don't have those monies. But if the other levels of government want to do a project like that and they're behind it, would they get our support? Absolutely," he said.

"Would I want to use existing funds? Absolutely not! I've got enough problems. I've got bridges that are falling apart. I've got community centres that are falling down."

Martin said a federal fund is available that would pay for as much as half the cost to relocate rail yards.

Moving the yards could revitalize the area, allowing for the construction of housing and green space, he said, while allowing the expansion of the Canadian Pacific yards in a new location.

Officials with CPR said no one has approached the company about relocating, and the company had no plans to do so, although it was willing to discuss options.