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The arrangement, to which Ottawa is prepared to contribute a total of $10 million, would “ensure that Canadians have safe, sustainable and efficient transportation options that enhance their quality of life,” Garneau added in the letter.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Garneau said he was “disappointed” by the Saskatchewan government’s decision, adding that his government has “put money on the table to try to help people who have, frankly, no alternative.”

The province takes a different view.

Crown Investments Corp. Minister Joe Hargrave said the offer of a share of the $10-million federal pot is “too little, too late,” and offer of a straight subsidy on former Greyhound routes “is not fair to the rest of the province, either.”

“To me, it makes more sense to say, ‘Will you help those guys that are already doing it?’ … There’s already people doing that; all they’re looking for is a hand,” Hargrave said, referring to the private companies offering bus service in the province.

“It would only be right then (for us) to help everybody else, and the federal government wasn’t prepared to do anything else. They could convert that money and talk to us and give us some more details, and we could work together to see what we could do.”

Greyhound Canada, citing a range of factors including plummeting ridership, announced its intention to shut down all of its routes in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba — as well as all but one in British Columbia — beginning at the end of October.