I don’t think we’re ever going to build high-speed rail

A country that needs multiple years to issue permits to retrofit an outbuilding is probably not one that is going to pull off a project that would cost tens of billions of dollars, take decades, and cross numerous jurisdictions, requiring significant land expropriation and considerable consultation with Indigenous Peoples.
People protesting the government's proposed Alto high-speed rail project on Parliament Hill on June 10, 2026. Billions of dollars in borrowed money and a big shiny new Major Projects Office will all come to nothing if we are not actually prepared as a country to say that there are things we need to do that are not going to be universally popular.

TORONTO—One day, I’ll tell this full story. It’s great. But today, you’ll have to settle for a very abbreviated version. For years, my family has been trying to retrofit an old outbuilding on a piece of property we own. The engineering is a bit complicated, but the r...

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