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VIA Rail

kEiThZ said:
Debatable. I wouldn't put it past the NDP to put poison pills in counter-proposals just to make the Liberals look bad.

And since the NDP is bigger on performative progressivism than policy, it suits them just fine if not everything goes through.

I'm thinking of their climate plan which was rated specifically lower by every major Canadian climate policy expert. Some ratings lower than the CPC. And that was a specific result of being high on ambition. And very light on policy. I can see them refusing to pass Liberal climate legislation citing a lack of ambition.
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Maybe, but given VIA is unionized they might be a bit less reluctant to directly mess with it on its' own.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Maybe, but given VIA is unionized they might be a bit less reluctant to directly mess with it on its' own.

AoD
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We'll see. I can easily see them demanding HSR or zero private sector involvement or some such. And then they run out the clock till the next election. Given how policy light they were and their leader's effort to paint the LPC as exactly as the same as the CPC, I'm suspicious that they work in good faith.
 
kEiThZ said:
We'll see. I can easily see them demanding HSR or zero private sector involvement or some such. And then they run out the clock till the next election. Given how policy light they were and their leader's effort to paint the LPC as exactly as the same as the CPC, I'm suspicious that they work in good faith.
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That I can see - but I don't see how the Liberals will go for a BOT scheme with HFR given it's a VIA project. It's bit of a molehill for anyone to die on.

AoD
 
crs1026 said:
Presuming that the Liberals’ pre-election budget now stands as read, I wonder whether the $490M that was committed for HFR prep will now get spent, and on what.

- Paul
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Finalizing the right of way between Smiths Falls and Toronto Union and right of way acquisition? Seems to me the next steps.
 
lrt's friend said:
Finalizing the right of way between Smiths Falls and Toronto Union and right of way acquisition? Seems to me the next steps.
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There’s really no reason to convey the land until procurement has been completed, and that is only promised to start this fall. I would hope for tackling whatever long-lead items create risk (and hence higher bid price) for the RFP.. That might well mean working with CN/CP to upgrade their lines especially through Montreal choke points. That work won’t be part of the bid process. And it’s mostly needed/valuable even if HFR somehow fell through.
For that matter, an early start on the Ottawa-Montreal portion, which is a low ticket price proposition, might generate quick gains that could be used to rebut any lingering opposition.
Putting a token service through Trois Rivieres might be a political priority even without track improvement, a la GO to London.
Or maybe there’s urgency for a down payment on further trainset orders. Or track material and signal procurement.
- Paul
 
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The NDP will not stop any funding for VIA and in fact will probably demand much more especially with HFR.

The NDP got a paltry 3 seats in all of Southern Ontario.........1 in Hamilton, 1 in London, and 1 in Windsor........right along the Southern Corridor route where any extension for HFR would take place especially now that the London/KW Northern route will be getting GO. Singh will demand more funding in order to serve SWO to make the case in the next election that is was them who forced the Liberals to extend HFR to their ridings. The Liberals will go along with it as they got seats in all 3 cities.
 
ssiguy2 said:
The NDP will not stop any funding for VIA and in fact will probably demand much more especially with HFR.
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I didn't say anything about stopping funding. I think they have a habit of subversive for the sake of politics. This is what I'm referring to.

They'll announce more ambitious ideas with no real plans to get there. Climate change is a good example of this. Liberals say 35-40% emissions cut by 2030 with a fully fleshed out policy plan on how to get there. NDP says that's not enough and they'll do more and give the Liberals a rough ride on the LPC plan while having no real depth to the NDP plan. They thought they could get away with this until climate scientists and policy experts called them out and a former BC Greens leader endorsed the Liberal plan.

I am weary of similar behaviour on the infrastructure plan. They can simply stall and oppose HFR on the grounds that it is not HSR and involves the CIB (an institution they dislike). And they can do this, because as an opposition party they don't have to offer a credible alternative. I hope I'm wrong. But till we have shovels in the ground I'll be really worried about politicians politicking.
 
kEiThZ said:
I didn't say anything about stopping funding. I think they have a habit of subversive for the sake of politics. This is what I'm referring to.

They'll announce more ambitious ideas with no real plans to get there. Climate change is a good example of this. Liberals say 35-40% emissions cut by 2030 with a fully fleshed out policy plan on how to get there. NDP says that's not enough and they'll do more and give the Liberals a rough ride on the LPC plan while having no real depth to the NDP plan. They thought they could get away with this until climate scientists and policy experts called them out and a former BC Greens leader endorsed the Liberal plan.

I am weary of similar behaviour on the infrastructure plan. They can simply stall and oppose HFR on the grounds that it is not HSR and involves the CIB (an institution they dislike). And they can do this, because as an opposition party they don't have to offer a credible alternative. I hope I'm wrong. But till we have shovels in the ground I'll be really worried about politicians politicking.
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There is a way around that - go for BQ (I know, I know) support instead.

AoD
 
roger1818 said:
Heck, even the CPC said they wanted to accelerate HFR.
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Wait did they want to accelerate HFR, or did they want to accelerate HFR?

Kind of ironic that the work that would be needed to make HFR faster would lengthen its construction time. They are mutually unexclusive!
 
robmausser said:
Wait did they want to accelerate HFR, or did they want to accelerate HFR?

Kind of ironic that the work that would be needed to make HFR faster would lengthen its construction time. They are mutually unexclusive!
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LOL. My understanding was they wanted to accelerate the construction of HFR, not accelerate the trains.
 
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