I didn't mean for this to get into a debate over how useful electrification is. My point was, and remains, that the benefits of these infrastructure megaprojects is often far less than they would seem. The most obvious example is Japan. Their road, rail and air transportation networks are pretty much the greatest on Earth. This forum is full of infrastructure fetishists, so I won't go into to much but whether it's Kansai International, the Tokyo Bay Tunnel, Seikan Tunnel or the Honshu-Shikoku bridge system they are simply incredible pieces of engineering.
By and large though, these projects haven't benefited the Japanese people. Their public debt is now second to only Zimbabwe, their health spending is far below OECD average, income growth has averaged 1% p.a. over the past decade, they have social security systems systemically underfunded in favor of politically expedient infrastructure and debt repayment and so forth. It's inequitable in that it shifts funds away from society's poorest and into a class of politically well connected developers, it screws the youth who are now saddled with ruinous debt levels and most of stunts investment in more productive areas of the economy.
Canada's not at that point, and we probably could use more infrastructure here and there, but these things have an awful habit of having their anemic benefits papered over with claims of "national vision." Whether it's Ontario's nuclear system, Quebec's overdeveloped hydro system, Mirabel, Confederation Bridge, the St.Lawrence Seaway or the Arrow we've got quite a strong history of completely ignoring proper cost/benefit thinking and opting for over-built infrastructure projects just to soothe our national paranoia.