If HSR goes to Kingston it will kill the demand that would sustain a regional hub.
This idea is boneheaded on so many levels.
1) Forces a Southern routing where there's more opposition as it is.
2) Runs through more settled areas which means higher expropriation costs.
3) Massive detour that would probably add 30 mins between Toronto and Ottawa when all is said and done. For a tiny catchment population.
4) Would remove the bulk of Lakeshore rail travel demand, effectively making the Kingston hub proposal a non-starter basically killing VIA Corridor East after Alto.
I don't get it. There's not even enough of a political payoff from this. Would the LPC even get more than one seat from this?
If they find a way to build Kingston into one of these SEZs, as opposed to relying on sectors that cost money vs. make money (like government and academia), they might be more likely to see HSR access....
Ontario’s Manufacturing Future: Why the Province Must Build High-Tech Industrial Zones to Reach 20% Manufacturing GDP by 2050
Ontario stands at a crossroads. For decades, the province has been the industrial heart of Canada, home to the country’s
largest automotive cluster, a globally respected
aerospace sector, and a diverse base of advanced manufacturers. Yet despite this legacy, Ontario’s manufacturing share of GDP has slipped to roughly
12%, down from the highs of the late 20th century. Canada as a whole sits near
10%, a level far below peer nations with strong industrial strategies.
If Ontario is serious about long-term economic resilience, energy security, and global competitiveness, the province must confront a difficult truth:
manufacturing will not grow on its own. It requires deliberate strategy, targeted investment, and a willingness to build the industrial infrastructure that the next generation of high-tech companies will rely on.
The goal is ambitious but necessary. Ontario must raise manufacturing’s share of GDP from
12% today to 15% by the mid-2030s, and ultimately to
20% by 2050. Canada, too, must aim for a national manufacturing share of
15%+ by mid-century if it hopes to remain an advanced economy with strong export capacity.
Achieving this will require a bold shift in thinking: the creation of
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and high-tech industrial corridors strategically located near major transportation routes, particularly the
Highway 401 megacorridor stretching from
Windsor to
Toronto to
Kingston. These zones must be designed to attract
advanced manufacturing, clean-energy technology, robotics, aerospace, medical devices, and next-generation industrial production.
makeontario4trillioneconomy.ca