In 2014, just before a provincial election, the Ontario government (then Liberal) announced that a high-speed rail line would be built within 10 years, linking downtown Toronto, Pearson airport, Kitchener, and London.

As the CBC so adeptly noted later, the high-speed rail project soon “slowed to choo-choo speed.” But that didn’t stop the promises. In May of 2017, that same Liberal government announced that the high-speed rail project would be extended to Windsor.

It all sounded great, except there was no sign of action. We hit 2019 – five years into the “built within 10 years” promise – and not a single railway tie had been laid. And then the inevitable happened – the new Conservative government announced that all funding for the high-speed rail had been “paused.”

The downside of democracy

I like our democratic system, but the glacial pace of building key infrastructure projects highlights a huge downside. Politicians make quick headline-grabbing promises to get elected, they delay those promises once elected, and then the promises are cancelled when a new party comes to power.

The result? Nothing gets done, not even little improvements to what we already have. And this isn’t just an Ontario issue – it’s Canada-wide and often occurs when municipal, provincial and federal governments intersect on projects.

A solution

I would love to see a national Canadian transportation super-agency, staffed by smart people making good non-political transit decisions, and with the power and money to make projects happen.

But that’s unlikely to happen soon. As an alternative, I propose the Chinese model. Decree that projects be built, then build them fast. Anyone who’s been to Shanghai recently knows how quickly things can get built.

And back to trains for a moment. This one-minute, time-lapsed video shows how 1,500 Chinese workers built the railway tracks for an entire train station in just 9 hours.

Now that’s the way to get things done!

Thanks for reading … Have a great day,
Suzana Popovic-Montag