In my lifetime, Pierre Poilievre, is the most negative Canadian party leader I have encountered. Pierre has come out against the ALTO high-speed rail project.
The contradictions in his recent press conference showed just how little he
knows on the subject and on the past and present situation of passenger and
freight rail in this country.
The following is my critique on Pierre’s high-speed rail press
conference.
Ignores Party Policy
The official 2023 Conservative Party Declaration supports
high-speed rail. I received several emails at the time from party members
stating this as proof the Conservatives support the high-speed rail.
Poilievre’s anti high-speed rail stance, as the Conservative
party leader, ignored what the Conservative members wanted and voted on. No
surprise to me, but maybe to the members that voted for it.
Praising the building of the CPR Transcontinental Railway in just 4 yrs
These statements by Pierre show just how ignorant he is of
our past railway history and how he contradicts his own arguments.
Poilievre spent a large amount of time in the press
conference stating how the Alto high-speed rail project was doing a “land grab”
of farmers. Yet, when the CPR was built the government merely took the land
from the people. There was no consultation.
Poilevre also forgot/is ignorant of/ or does not care to mention,
the large human tragedy that happened as a result of this project. It is estimated
that between 600 and 2,000 Chinese labourers died during the building of it in
Rockies, Fraser Canyon.
“A life for every mile” is a saying that symbolically reflects the tragedy of lives lost during the building of the CPR through the most treacherous parts. The hazards the workers faced, when no safety standards existed at the time, were horrendous. Why would Pierre use this as an example of getting things done?
VIA Rail Logic
Poilievre uses the poor on-time performance of VIA Rail (51%
in 2024) as evidence that the government cannot be trusted with a new rail
project. However, he omits the fact that the ALTO high-speed rail project and resulting
dedicated high-speed track, will resolve many of the delays that plague VIA
Rail as they now have to share track with freight railroads.
Contradictory Comments on Supporting Big Infrastructure Projects
Poilievre complains about how
Prime Minister Carney had not done one big infrastructure project, yet a couple
minutes later in the same press conference states the high-speed rail
infrastructure project should be cancelled.
The Public Good vs Profit
Poilievre comes out stating
only do projects that make money. He uses the example of the airlines. He states,”
We will greenlight projects that pay for themselves projects that make money”.
Does he plan to oppose any federal infrastructure money that goes into any new hospitals,
police funding, defence spending, schools or transit projects? These public good
projects do not make money. Even most highways lose money.
His example of supporting the
airlines is not relevant to shorter flights between cities. In fact, high-speed
rail is more effective and efficient that airline travel on short hauls travel.
Using a life-cycle analysis, repeated studies have shown that high-speed rail
still more efficient than air travel in terms of energy use and greenhouse
gas emissions. In short hauls, flights of 2.5 hours or less, countries like France
are eliminating them in an effort to cut carbon emissions
A Negative Opposition Leader in decline
The interview Pierre Poilievre
gave against the Alto high-speed rail project was another example of am
extremely negative person whose rhetoric does not hold up to any critical
analysis.
Paul Langan, Founder High-Speed Rail Canada
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