Yes, the difference here is notable. Not only did much of it come back, other parts were taken over by GO Transit.
Also, when I look at the pre-1981 network... I really wonder how some of those ultra-remote lines had survived until 1981. Train service thrives on volume (lots of passengers), and some of these lines just didn't have the population for it. I have to suspect that most of the branch lines in Manitoba which weren't daily in 1978 would have survived under *any* circumstances. Similarly, there hasn't been much outcry to restore the northern Quebec routes cut in 1981. Of the 1981 cuts, we all want service along both the CN and CP mainlines, and service to Havelock and on the north shore from Ottawa to Montreal, but a lot of the rest of the cuts? Nobody seems to care any more, probably because there are so few people in the places which lost service.
There was definitely public outcry about the 1990 cuts; I remember it in the newspapers even in upstate NY. It didn't manage to attract support from enough politicians, however; there was a cross-party consensus on not caring about VIA's survival, from what I can tell.