Urban Sky
Senior Member
Good thing that HFR has a much lower funding requirement per seat benefitting from the project than other transit projects (say: Scarborough Subway Extension)...
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Bordercollie
Senior Member
I don't see prime missing Pierre supporting this type of project. Why can't the concervatives elect a moderate candidate? Why so fringe?
rbt
Senior Member
I don't see Pierre being a majority prime minister without policies friendly to urban Quebec and Ontario. I don't know if this proposal is the right policy, but they'll have to promise something fairly sizable.
roger1818
Active Member
I'm no fan of PP, but when talking to him about HFR on my doorstep a few years ago (before COVID and him becoming party leader), he claimed to be supportive of investments that would reduce VIA's need for subsidies.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
That could mean a lot of things like getting rid of it all together.
crs1026
Senior Member
I have never been confident in the saleability of the concept of spending billions to eliminate subsidies.
It’s a bit like buying a new car rather than fix the old one - the long term business case for spending the larger amount may be there, but there are many reasons why some will eat the repair cost and hope nothing more breaks.
- Paul
It’s a bit like buying a new car rather than fix the old one - the long term business case for spending the larger amount may be there, but there are many reasons why some will eat the repair cost and hope nothing more breaks.
- Paul
Bordercollie
Senior Member
It's not like the old days where buy equipment and you maintain them. It comes with a maintenance agreement, support and logistics. You may as well be buying a new fighter jet platform.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
The problem is that he's always attacking the situation, "close the border to migrants, don't compensate the natives for the atrocities that we committed, Justin spent too much money on this or that". Okay sure and do you have a better idea?
Anyways the Concervatives are never one to spend on capital infrastructure. They are fiscally responsible and usually are in favor of balancing the budget at all costs, and are usually not friends with the civil servants. They are also not very people friendly, we saw this with Steven Harper and Mike Harris.
Also considering that to win you need to win Ontario and with Douggie in hot water about the greenbelt and privatization of healthcare, I do not see Ontario Voting Blue anytime soon. So as unpopular Justin is, the NDP don't want an election either. So i think we will see this status quo continue for another year or so.
MisterF
Senior Member
A common misconception.
cplchanb
Senior Member
If you want an actual example ironically it's the 90s chretien govt and Paul Martin. They balanced the books but it was termed the decade of darkness for a reason...
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Sorry I mean that they claim to be in terms of policy. Now do those savings result in harm in other ways?
I guess what I'm trying to say is as long as they are in a surplus they have done their job. At what cost? That's debatable.
But again our current situation is different, the pandemic changed everything. I don't think there is single developed nation that is thriving. Everyone is in the red and is hoping to spend their way out of it. Unfortunately that causes inflation, and is making living in most cities unaffordable.
In a city like Toronto rent went up by $500-$1000 almost overnight. If you live in North Bay that might be $250-$500 but in terms of scale it's probably about the same since we have a higher earnings potential.
In the next few years you will see more people travelling longer distances to work in Toronto and a good rail system will be good for everyone. Simply because our roads cannot handle anymore cars. I'm sure if you could commute from Peterborough in one hour and your house price is half it's worth it. But then people who cannot afford to live in Peterborough will commute from Havelock to Peterborough.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Looks like some preliminary information has been leaked about the structural integrity of the cars. https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...ern-with-vias-stainless-steel-fleet-analysis/
So these cars that were stripped will be scrapped? At least we know that they are safe, and that they can be repaired.
So these cars that were stripped will be scrapped? At least we know that they are safe, and that they can be repaired.
cplchanb
Senior Member
Hopefully this won't detract via from replacing them in the near future... they are still well past their due date and need to be retired
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Well there is a tender out for request for qualifications.
Would be nice to have a heritage train over the Rockies. Don't think that is good use of taxpayer dollars unless it turns a profit.
cplchanb
Senior Member
If PP gets elected anything can happen. The cons can take this as an excuse to withhold funding for fleet replacement as part of a cost cutting exercise