The Naysayers of Canadian High-Speed Rail - Rinse and Repeat

 

CN TurboTrain - Lorne Perry Collection

History

My involvement in passenger rail advocacy began around 1990, inspired by legendary Transport 2000 Canada advocate Harry Gow. However, my fascination with high-speed trains started decades earlier with Canada's TurboTrain—I was captivated by its modern, sleek design.

In 2008, I founded High-Speed Rail Canada as an educational resource dedicated to Canadian high-speed rail. As a historian of Canada's high-speed rail past, I've dedicated myself to collecting and posting previous studies on the High-Speed Rail Canada website. My goal was to digitize and make accessible all previous Canadian high-speed rail studies. Today, that website has accomplished this mission.

Previous Attempts at High-Speed Rail in Canada

Whether in the Calgary-Edmonton corridor or the Ontario-Quebec region, one pattern remains constant: whenever high-speed rail is proposed, naysayers emerge with tired, repetitive arguments against it.

Having observed Canadian high-speed rail initiatives since the mid-1990s, I've watched the same patterns unfold from questionable think tank organizations. Their arguments have become almost comical in their predictability: “It's too expensive,” “It's not the right time,” “We don't have the population for it.”

Now, with the ALTO high-speed rail project between Ontario and Quebec—a nation-building initiative—the naysayers are at it again.

Right-Wing, American-Funded Canadian Think Tanks

Several Canadian organizations operate as registered charities and may have Canadian-sounding names, but their funding and ideology originate from conservative American sources. These organizations rarely disclose their funding sources, though historical records and investigations have traced the money trail.

The Montreal Economic Institute

Founded in 1987, MEI has already published an article opposing the ALTO project. This comes as no surprise for an organization that is part of the American Atlas Network and has received funding from the Koch Foundation and the American-controlled Donner Foundation.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Despite its Canadian name, the CTF is connected to the right-wing, Virginia-based Atlas Network for funding. The Atlas Network receives money from the Koch Brothers. It is not a registered charity, and it does not release the source of  their funding Recently, they published an article denouncing high-speed rail.

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Formed in 2010, MLI recently published an anti-high-speed rail article. While claiming to be “rigorously independent and non-partisan,” an extensive investigation by DeSmog revealed their donors, including the Donner Foundation Canada. The Donner Foundation shifted toward conservative research and right-wing advocacy in 1993, directed by conservative American family members controlling the foundation. 

Fraser Institute

Established in 1974, this think tank has yet to publish their latest salvo in their anti-high-speed rail campaign, though I'm confident they will. Their last article appeared in 2017, attacking the Ontario government's London-Toronto high-speed rail plan.

I remain constantly amazed that people grant the Fraser Institute any credibility. Their website proudly states, “To protect our independence, we accept no government funding or contracts for research.”  However, they conveniently omit who they do accept money from.

One of the Fraser Institute's most significant controversies involved financial support from the tobacco industry. They published the book Passive Smoke: The EPA's Betrayal of Science and Policy, which challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's classification of secondhand smoke as a Class A carcinogen. As far fetched as that seems, the book's credibility was further undermined when one of its authors, John Luik, was exposed as an academic fraud. According to the Montreal Gazette, tobacco industry donations to the Fraser Institute increased from 1.3% to 5% of their total annual budget between 1996 and 1998.

Incredibly, this discredited book remains available for download on the Fraser Institute website.

The  New Experts on High-Speed Rail

Another predictable phenomenon occurs whenever a new high-speed project is announced: self-proclaimed “experts” emerge, most with absolutely no experience working on high-speed rail projects. We're already seeing a new crop of  “experts” offering their opinions on ALTO.

I won't identify these individuals, as I don't wish to legitimize them further. However, their appearance represents yet another example of “rinse and repeat” in the historic fight for high-speed rail in Canada.

These individuals and think tanks will continue recycling their outdated arguments while Canada falls further behind in developing modern high-speed passenger rail.

Bots and Disinformation - The New Threats

I will share more information about the Fraser Institute and other right-wing Canadian organizations and their funding in a future post. I will also look at companies that have traditionally not supported high-speed rail in Canada.

Today, as we know well, bots and other tools are used effectively to spread messaging. The ALTO high-speed rail project, are now, and will continue to be, targeted using bots, sometimes maliciously. More on that in a future article also.

The time has come for Canada to embrace high-speed rail. Don't be fooled by the think tanks and self-appointed experts who perpetuate their outdated rhetoric.

Paul Langan
Founder, High-Speed Rail Canada

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References

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