this is the most boomerlogic policy one can imagine
“We examine a multitude of proposals when it comes to congestion management,” Sarkaria told reporters, adding the government has to look at what is best for cities and “people across the province.”
The proposal you’re looking for is more
You jest, but it is legitimately mind-boggling that Canada does not have an HSR. Between Sarnia and QC, that’s like half of Canada’s population.
But of course. All it takes is for one boomer to go on tv and say “What are we a bunch of Asians?” and the public will fight it tooth and nail.
And there’s plenty of space to build out HSR in that corridor. Fuck me car brain is the worst mental disease.
Main reason I want to emigrate, no lie
The fact that the Windsor-Quebec corridor is barely faster than driving (and often far slower) for luxury prices (200+ dollars sometimes for roundtrip on a train averaging 80kmh on a good day) is insane to me, let alone that the rest of the US northeast/Canadian southeast border area is barely connected. It is a full 12 hour day of travel to get to New York from Toronto or Montreal, which should be a few hours of HSR tops
It’s an interesting question I would like to see answered here: policymakers know that more car infrastructure does not improve traffic. This has been an established fact for at least 75 years at this point. So why do they keep doubling down on it? What is the motive force behind this? Is it that cars are one of two gigantic purchases (the other being housing) that every person is basically obligated to make, so it’s a giant cash cow for the capitalists?
Because governance is determined by material interests of the ruling class, not rationality. There’s no Big Bike, and Big Car isn’t going to dissolve itself after reading a few articles by scientists. And yeah you’re not going to get a clear answer if you ask. This stuff is generally obfuscated in public speech.
Yup it’s pretty much that, exacerbated in this case by the fact that auto manufacturing makes up an unusually large portion of Ontario’s economy. Ontario produces the second most cars of any state or province in North America after Michigan.
It was like 20% of jobs were related to transportation or something at one point.
Despite the other replies’ good points, I think Doug Ford’s Ontario is a unique case because he’s so terminally car brained he sincerely thinks that adding more car infrastructure will help relieve traffic. On top of that he’s also a corrupt pig that’s making decisions almost entirely for the benefit of capitalists who have been friendly with him. Basically all his major transit decisions have been made to juice property values for big land owners (Highway 413, Bradford Bypass, Ontario Line stations, etc).
Does he have his hands in any construction businesses? A lot of city government officials will get kickbacks from local companies. Construction can be a really easy way for money to disappear or commit insurance fraud.
Ford’s style of corruption is keeping big party donors, who just so happen to be friends with him, happy with policies that hugely benefit them. The closest anyone’s actually proven to him having money directly change hands is when he invited those same donors to his daughter’s Stag & Doe party with like $5000 plates.
Never assume they’re not just stupid.
Like, yeah, class interests and donor pressure and cultural bias etc etc. Ignoring all of that, some of them are just useful idiots.
Yeah, this. I know it’s tempting to imagine that all the people opposing good policies are evil masterminds operating on a reverse Marxist understanding of the world, but the problems are much more structural. All sorts of weirdos run for office, and businesses fund the campaigns of the ones whose weirdo ideas line up with what they want, and that is sufficient to put people in power who perpetuate capitalist interests, without anybody actually thinking “perpetuate capitalist interests” at any point in the process.
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