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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Thursday. It's your turn. The question this week, what do you think of the plan to bring high-speed rail in the link between Quebec City and Toronto? Good idea?
Chapter 2: What is the main question about high-speed rail in Canada?
Bad idea? Too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? What do you think? Plus the random renter. It's all coming right up. And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. Yes, it is Thursday. Crawling to the end of the week here. But we're crawling with an exciting edition of Your Turn for this week. As I mentioned yesterday, we've been flooded with emails on this.
This question about high-speed rail, which is of particular interest, obviously, to... parts of southern Quebec and southern Ontario, because that's where the link is supposedly heading, at a huge cost, somewhere between $60 and $90 billion. And that's just the estimated cost. You know how these things go. It'd be a lot more expensive, I'm guessing, by the time it's done.
Anyway, that is the question for this week. And why have we had so many emails? And I'm talking lots, hundreds, hundreds and hundreds. And they're still pouring in. And here's why. It's gone well beyond our core audience, which is significant enough. It's substantial, our core audience.
It puts us in the top-ranked political podcast in Canada every week, the top-ranked Canadian political podcast in the Canada political podcast rankings by Apple. So we're pretty proud of that. You know, we get more than a... Well, we get listeners on SiriusXM. We get over 100,000 listeners a week on our podcast. And we get upwards of 150,000 viewers on our YouTube channel. So we're doing great.
We really appreciate that. And we hear every week from our listeners who write in, in terms of the question of the week. But this week, a little, I guess, added bonus, if you want to look at it that way. One of our listeners decided that I'm going to put this on my Facebook page because all my... friends in the advocacy group to stop high-speed rail on that particular route will then write in.
But most of those, if not all of them, had never listened to the podcast, didn't understand the conditions that we place about, you know, 75 words or fewer, you know the list. They didn't know that. So I got all these letters, big, long ones, some essay length, like really long ones. I'm not taking away anything from their passion about this subject.
There's no doubt they're passionate about it, and they feel very strongly about it. But it did kind of swamp the meager little operation that we have here at the bridge. So all this to say that most of those letters... Don't get on. Haven't got on. Not because we're biased against Facebook or possible nerd listeners, but these people never listen.
They didn't understand the rules and the conditions that we place on these things and therefore didn't meet any of them. However, we still got lots and lots of letters. And we're going to go through them as best we can.
There's probably, if you wrote in one way or the other, if you wrote into the bridge this week, my guess is there's probably a one in 10 chance you've make it on the air because so many, so many letters this week, but let's get at it. Let's see what we can get in. Dave Cole from Wallaceburg, Ontario. That's southwestern Ontario, not too far from Windsor.
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Chapter 3: What are the estimated costs and concerns regarding the high-speed rail project?
As someone who lives in the proposed corridor, I can assure you, next to no one in this region or any other small town is in favor of this insanity. The amazing thing is how many don't even know what it is or how drastically their lives may take a turn. Reeks of corruption. There's no proof of corruption, but there's no doubt a lot of people think that.
Andrea Glenn in Van Cleek Hill, Ontario, very close to Dole Keith. The original high-frequency rail plan made much more sense.
Using existing infrastructure, especially between Montreal and Ottawa, where Via already owns most of the track, combined with legislation prioritizing passenger rail over freight, would improve speed and reliability faster and at a fraction of altos, that's the name of this, social, economic and environmental cost. Febri and Butterman in Milton, Ontario.
The high-speed rail will be priced expensively and still won't break even while drawing ire of many farmers. But you bet many people, including me, will try it at least once for the novelty, and it'll be seen as a point of pride of the country. Tried it in Japan, Indonesia, and Italy, and they're all amazing experiences. Doug Bennett in Grimsby, Ontario, that's near St. Catharines.
When it comes to the pros and cons of huge projects like a high-speed rail corridor or EV mandates or bicycle lane infrastructure, we have to stop thinking what's good for us now versus what's good for future generations. We are responsible for building and paying for these projects in the near term, so our descendants will profit just as our ancestors paid and built projects for us.
Glenn Lee in Berlin, Germany. I was the vice president of the German Canadian Business Club back in the day. I often met with Berlin-based Bombardier transportation folks here. They couldn't understand why Canada wouldn't implement a Canadian technology, high-speed trains. Delays just make the cost go up. Get it done. Neil Douglas Fraser in Edmonton.
I say it's about time Canada implemented high-speed rail transportation. Being an Albertan with family in Quebec and Ontario, I would prefer a rail line that spans the country to prevent being gouged by the monopolistic airlines we have in this country. But you have to start somewhere. Sean Hindman in Petworth, Ontario. That's near Kingston.
I don't feel the cost of people losing their homes, communities divided, and an expense that everyone in Canada will have to pay for years is worth it. Many people won't use it. It's likely to be costly and inconvenient to find transportation to and from limited stations. No to Alto. Tim Stott in Minnesota, Manitoba.
We just returned from a trip to Europe where we utilized the train system in all five countries we visited, and to my surprise, it worked. It will fail in Canada. Too political, massive overspending, no routes outside major centers like Toronto or Montreal, and it will be so expensive and inconvenient that it's not going to be viable for many Canadians. Gary Magwood in Plainville, Ontario.
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Chapter 4: What are the listener opinions on high-speed rail benefits?
Their transport infrastructure has been built over decades, and their high-speed rail is beautifully incorporated into an established rail network for over 50 years. We don't have near the infrastructure to accommodate this, nor the ridership. Diana Bayer. In Smith Falls, Ontario. That's outside Ottawa. Who will take this train? Business people will still fly.
Tourists with kids will still drive because tickets for a family of four will cost much more than a tank of gas. I will have to drive to Ottawa to catch the train to go to Toronto right now. Via stops 10 minutes from my house, and that is how I go. Nice and slow and scenic. Canada's beautiful, so why would I want to go fast? Okay, we're kind of halfway.
Let's take a break, come back with a random ranter. He's got his rants, not on this. We've got lots more of your letters. We'll get to them after the break and after the random ranter. So we'll be right back after this. And welcome back. You're listening to The Bridge for this Thursday. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Glad to have you with us. You're listening on Sirius XM channel 167.
Canada Talks are on your favorite podcast platform. Glad to have you with us. Okay. As I said, Thursday's, well, they're for the random renter as well as your letters. So let's see what the Random Rounder has to talk about this week. It's not about high-speed rail. It's about something else. Here he comes.
Pierre Polyev sure does get a bad rap. I mean, it seems like the guy is constantly taking shots from everybody, left, right, and center. And look, I know I'm guilty of it too. So today, I just want to show some empathy. And Pierre, if you're out there listening, I'm sorry. Your job can't be easy. You lead a party divided. I mean, there are social conservatives, progressive conservatives.
There's the anti-vax crowd, the anti-abortionists, the book burners, libertarians, the blue Tories, the red Tories. And of course, everyone's favorite, the F Trudeaus and pickup trucks. It's not an understatement by any means to say that the Conservative Party of Canada represents a rich tapestry of diverse beliefs.
I mean, it's a pretty wide spectrum from completely reasonable and valid to chemtrails and conspiracy theories. And the only thing holding them all together is Pierre Polyev and their tribal loyalty to the flag. Unfortunately, that flag is the conservative party banner and not the maple leaf.
Because the cornucopia of conservatism is also overflowing with successionists, separatists, and a whole bunch of fox-watching, maple-maga, wannabe Americans. So it really can't be easy for Pierre. I mean, how do you come up with a platform to please all those diverse beliefs and still hope to win in a general election?
How do you compete when significant elements of your party look at any form of cooperation as capitulation or call any kind of reasonableness cuck? It's got to be tough and not tenuous tough. I'm talking impossible tough. Yet in fairness to Pierre, he almost pulled it off. He garnered more votes than any other conservative ever.
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Chapter 5: What are the environmental concerns related to high-speed rail?
Sounds great. Okay. The real disruption is turning travel time into sleep, recovery, or productive time. Andrew Chisholm in Kingston, Ontario. I'm a train guy. At times I was taking Via from Kingston to Toronto twice a month. I've taken the train to Nova Scotia dozens of times. The high-speed rail proposal is a waste of money.
Let's restore daily service to Halifax and Vancouver and add more and better commuter rail for our larger cities. That will do way more for the planet and our country than this unnecessary high-speed train. Little train history, you know, for some of us going through all these letters. You know, I remember... I remember my first train trip was from Quebec City to Ottawa through Montreal.
That's after we landed in Quebec City in 1954. I remember traveling by train from Vancouver to Ottawa for a Christmas break when I was in the Navy in 1966. And a fabulous trip across the country. It was a little bit crazy. We were young and wild. I remember taking the train from Winnipeg to Churchill. That's a ride. So there's, we've all had, or many of us have been lucky to have train rides.
And we'll never forget them. Yvonne Villeneuve in Ottawa. Had the privatization of CN Rail in 1995 not taken place, there would be no consideration given to high-speed rail. The new owners prioritize freight over passenger trains, nationalize the tracks, or at least run new tracks running parallel with the existing tracks. Buy more trains, run them often. More passenger express trains.
All of the goals of Alto... would be achieved at a much lower cost and with far less disruption to people's lives and to the environment. Paula Dairy in Montreal. When evaluating high-speed rail between Montreal and Toronto, existing options must be considered.
A flight takes about 3 hours and 45 minutes downtown to downtown, including airport travel, wait times, etc., etc., while the train takes about 5 hours. If Via Rail Canada can secure exclusive use of parts of the existing corridor and increase its average speed, it could offer a competitive service without the cost of building a new high-speed line. Josh Como in Montreal.
I think a high-speed rail project is long overdue and it's good we're finally doing it. Europeans are investing heavily in high-speed rail. $345 billion by 2040. I'm glad we're at least trying to keep up. Cale Thomas in Ottawa. The case for Alto is clear but has been poorly articulated.
There are 50 daily flights between Toronto and Ottawa and 80 between Toronto and Montreal, carrying over 4 million passengers annually. Population growth will only intensify pressure on these routes. Our airports don't have the capacity and fuel costs are volatile. Rejecting the Alto investment now means paying even more in the future for airport expansions and wider highways.
Canada needs electrified mass transit. Tony Baza in St. Catharines, Ontario. I think it's a no-brainer. Just build it. Many people travel by rail. I've traveled to Montreal and Ottawa by rail. And it's a very comfortable ride. If one checks the via rail schedules of trains traveling from Montreal to Toronto, there are at least five trains per day. So the demand is there.
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