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When our Country has 90 billion to the good on its balance sheet then I'd say "Why not build a vanity project so we can pretend we're as good as those Europeans."
High Speed Train Coming?-split from boosting Canada’s military spending"
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Halifax Tar
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I think if we want this to be nation building we should go coast to coast.
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The geography, distance, demand and population density, not to mention costs, does not allow for this.
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God we Canadians are a cheap people.
This same attitude lead to the CAF being chronically underfunded
The same argument can be made for just about anything. And indeed a lot of people have used that argument against defence spending.
I've said this before. Defence spending at very high (shall we say ahistorical for Canada) levels is not sustainable unless the government is also addressing other issues. The public is not going going to buy that it is all in their interest. So we better be prepared to do more than one thing at a time.
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Both came out swinging at the strawman they thought we'd all fawn over......
Halifax Tar
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Good thing we didn't say that in 1885.
Generational thing. Our forefathers literally created this country using a railroad. There's just a current generation that can't think past tax returns. That might change. Heck, even the CPC response has Dan Albas admitting that young people travel and wonder why we can't have this at home.
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Invest in some pipelines, use that to get some money in the coffers, and then go with the vanity projects....
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Different system for different needs.
Long range freight and passenger service can be cross country.
High speed rail needs relatively flat ground and closely spaced high density population centers. I can think of two places that fit that description.
Quebec city-Windsor
Edmonton -Calgary
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Nah. We are a cheap people. Even before the world wars we underspent on defense.
And anytime we want to build anything we need to go abroad and sell ourselves because god forbid we canadians invest here at home.
From pipelines to defense to rail, its always tooooo expensive.
3.25 trillion dollar economy and we are acting like we are Zambia or something
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Or maybe we consider large scale projects like this being funded be the areas benefiting them.
So, HSR benefits Ontario and Quebec, so they fund it.
Oil pipeline to the coast benefits Alberta, so they fund the entire thing, end to end.
Forget any Nation building projects, just make them regional projects.
Once that’s up and running we can maybe address any transfer payments or equalization payments going forward. Same with things like fibre or high speed internet, each region pays the full business cost for its implementation and maintenance going forward.
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Young people do travel.....they take their cars and go to Provincial Parks, to the vast number of beaches we have, to the farmers market, so how many of those get serviced?
Let's see, got to Toronto in record time so now I'll just spend $400 for an Uber to Algonquin Park, and live off the land for a week.
Let's see, got to Toronto in record time so now I'll just spend $400 for an Uber to Algonquin Park, and live off the land for a week.
Rail works best regionally. Obviously nobody is going to be taking a train from Halifax to Winnipeg. Well some crazy kook.... But regular speed rail (160kph) is competitive with driving upto 500 kph. HSR is competitive with flying up to 800 km.
There's no reason, for example, we shouldn't have proper service in key inter and intra-provincial corridors. Halifax-Moncton. Winnipeg-Portage-Brandon. Regina-Moose Jaw-Saskatoon. Edmonton-Red Deer-Calgary-Medicine Hat. Vancouver-Abbottsford-Kelowna. Etc. And I would like to see a national infrastructure program that builds out these corridors. It may take 40 years. But set the goal. And start working.
Just as important is getting the Trans-Canada up to a universal standard. Quad lane grade separated. And again I would love to see federal leadership that builds this out over time. Just like the 36 years it took to build the US interstate system.
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I love this idea.
60 percent of Canada's GDP comes from Quebec and Ontario. Take 60 percent of the money in the budget, set it aside for Quebec and Ontario. Take that money and build HSR.
Brilliant
Pipelines are being built.....
But I suspect even if we built 10 pipelines tomorrow, there would always be an excuse why this isn't important or can't be built or ... Or ....
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Or take that money to help pay off the outrageous debt were leaving our kids already do they have a fighting chance....even more brilliant.
I've argued that the feds should stop funding local public transit and dedicate that funding to regional transport projects that have wider economic impacts. Hard to do this politically though when MPs need ribbon cuttings.
Should be noted that Alto will cost basically as much as the feds are spending on local transit (through gas tax) through to 2040.
Exactly my point.
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