Canada pledges billions for high-speed rail linking Quebec City and Toronto
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REM is an extreme outlier though. Canada is filled with failed or failing transit projects that are all desperately needed:
Metrolinx is many years overdue and billions over budget on Line 5. Line 6 is also overdue, but is getting a pass since it's only bad and not horrifying. Metrolinx seems to have learned some lessons for the Ontario Line, but it's also over budget and unlikely to keep anything close to its schedule.
Calgary has spent over a decade working on the Green Line and is still a long way from putting shovels in the ground.
Vancouver keeps slipping on delivering the Broadstreet Skytrain expansion. At least Translink does seem to have reverted to the original Skytrain design pattern that has been so incredibly successful for the Expo Line expansion.
Quebec City tried for a LRT and couldn't even get the project started the cost spiralled so much and got down to a single bidder before they scrapped it and started again.
My own home of Kitchener-Waterloo managed to build an LRT and keep costs reasonable, but costs on phase 2 to Cambridge are terrifying for at-grade construction. Many euro nations have delivered full underground metros for much less per km. We've also been promised and are waiting for all day regional rail service for a decade+.
I'm a huge fan of transit, but it's hard to be optimistic.
I am glad to see CDPQ (who did REM) is part of the high speed rail proposal. They have shown a real ability to make smart value engineering choices and actually deliver projects. Is it enough to actually build some trains? I'm not sure, even if we ignore the political uncertainly surrounding the project.
Hard and unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
- the Conservatives kill the project before significant money is spent
- the Conservatives can proceed with the project knowing that it won't be killed in 4 or 8 years if/when the Liberals go back in power. (On the off chance that the NDP forms the succeeding government, they'll have likely taken a position on the project in this election).
Also it is far from clear who will be the next election -- Federally conservatives are losing ground incredibly quickly due to their pro USA stance.
You aren't watching politics right now are you? It's happening in real time. It is actually quite dramatic - the US/CDN relationship is superseding most other political issues.
Sigh.
Even Canadians dislike us now. How bad do you have to screw up that the Canadians dislike you? All I can say is that, (maybe?), this will only last the four years.
I'm sure conservative Canadian parties did not think Trump and Vance would go off the deep end. Neither did a whole lot of conservative Americans. But buyer's remorse won't get anyone anywhere at this point. Just have to try make the best of what you can and live with the consequences with respect to the rest.
Unfortunately for conservative Canadian parties, it's looking like that probably means absorbing some impact at the polls at this point.
You just have to ignore a long standing positive relationship, threaten to annex the country, threaten to destroy its economy, and make a bunch of unfounded claims about fentanyl trafficking. Easy-peasy.
Even if most Canadians do recognize that the population isn't the administration it does give people pause and they certainly look to spend their money elsewhere until the people in power look to build upon relationships with their allies instead of trying to dominate them.
Edit - To add to this, read Carney's book or listen to his various speeches prior to him starting this political run... Carney doesn't believe in nations, wants to pursue a globalist future, he's been in Trudeau's ear for years and Trudeau's "post-nationalism" is very much something Carney believes in. But yeah, sure, Carney now decides he's a nationalist...
This is a popular leftist talking point at the moment but it's far from the truth and as more information about both parties' and leaders' beliefs is disseminated yes, the momentum will die out.
This isn't a "leftist talking point." It's the President of the US making open threats, and Canadians are taking those threats seriously.
What you people don't seem to comprehend is that every political party in Canada has the same views on this matter. If every party has the same policy in regards to an issue, it's not an election issue.
By claiming it is you're claiming one party isn't going to defend Canadian sovereignty.
We had far more restrictive laws on immigration and the LGBT community in the days of the Chretien-Martin Liberal government for example...
The question is whether Canadians want to elect someone who models himself after Trump at a time when Trump is threatening to end Canada's existence as a sovereign nation.
0. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2137961/poilievre-co...
I guess it would be jarring to Canadians, who have a current leader who called us a post-national state and said immigrants are more Canadian than people born in Canada...
The fact any Canadian thinks it's weird or anything like MAGA shows how far Canada has fallen...
You can view a timeline of it here https://altotrain.ca/en/key-milestones/
Nothing going to be build though.
Although, yes, SNC-Lavalin (whatever realis they are called nowaday) will get the money for another study.
In fact there is currently study to study is going on.
Or is it the case that all the rail we already have is from an era when we were still competent at building, and if we had to do it all over from scratch we wouldn't even be able to get freight rail done?
My personal suspicion is that when countries have excess, they waste it by CYA with endless bureaucracy. But when countries are hungry and striving for excess they are more practical and will literally and figuratively move mountains to make things happen.
It seems pretty unethical to be making a commitment like this in his current lame duck position.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alto_(high-speed_rail)#History
Said swing is currently underway [0], and if the polling is correct, they'll swing further with Carney as LPC leader [1].
[0] https://338canada.com/federal.htm
[1] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/leger-poll-carney-as...
Vancouver to Seattle and Edmonton to Calgary are the only other locations in Canada where it would be cot effective.
Edmonton could even end up with a terminus station in downtown Edmonton instead of the airport at the edge of the city but that likely won't happen due to provincial and municipal incompetence if they even get around ot building HSR in Alberta.
Our government really does just feel like a bunch of corporate monopolies wearing a trenchcoat
We're following the same path as America unfortunately, while acting like we're better than they are
They should spend the money on INTRA city travel. Expand the subway systems in Toronto and Montreal.
If the price is around that of an equivalent airplane flight, I don’t see the problem here.
How expensive to ride do you expect it to be? You have a reason to believe it will cost significantly more than an airplane flight?
Outside of Montreal you can get a bit a mixed reception to english, but there's no real hatred. Just pride in their own culture and a bit of fear about the ongoing loss of that which is probably reasonable.
For Ontario it's on Metrolinx and for Toronto TTC. Just in November TTC got roughly $750m in fed funding for subway cars especially for Line 2 cars that are reaching EOL, but also for the expansion lines in Scarborough and Yonge North.