Melanie in Saskatchewan has an important message to share with the Elbows Up crowd:
To Mark Carney & Those Applauding Him:
I am a Canadian paying for a country that doesn’t include me.
I live in the part of the country your map forgets.
About 2,600 kilometres from the nearest stop on your proposed $90 billion train.I am an overtaxed, under-served Canadian.
I heat my home with rising costs.
I fill my vehicle at almost $2 a litre, depending on the day and my luck.
I watch a country with 163 billion barrels of oil behave like it’s on a meagre allowance.And you want me to pay for a train I will never use.
How thoughtful.
I live a few miles from where that train will be and I will never use it either.
That picture of Mark Shyster with the monorail behind him is mint.
AkinsRealis epitomizes central Banada and the evil rule of the Laurentian Elite.
Alto, as the boondoggle has been named, will be the polished turd in the crown of the Forever Government of the Northern Shithole.
When are western Canadians going to wake up to the fact that Canada is, will be, and has always been Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This was laid out in 1840 and certified in 1867. The Liberal Family Compact, or Laurentian elite, know where their Liberal bread is buttered and it ain’t with us westerners. The Autonomy Act of 1905 was anything but provincial autonomy for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Laurier knew full well that these two provinces would become the resource hinterland of Canada. Not partners, but resource wealth holders to be exploited by Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Living here in rural Ontario, can’t really disagree with you. Some of us actually hope WEXIT occurs. Maybe, but doubtful, it might bring a dose of reality to eastern urbanites.
“I Don’t Want Your Money”. Said no one ever in the Canadian government.
https://youtu.be/uNeXbvBXapE?si=VAtBAUrOe4KDmlLv
How good was Terry Kath!? RIP
“And you want me to pay for a train I will never use.”
Don’t worry, it will be like California; no tracks and no train.
Don’t worry, it will be like California; no tracks and no train but an endless expense.
The entire post is terrific, at about the 1/2 way point Melanie mentions this…
“At this point, I would settle for a train that delivers affordable groceries.”
Which is my question too, will this train have affordable groceries or not? It doesn’t matter if the affordable grocery train only travels from Toronto to Quebec City.
As an American it is wonderful to know and realize that Canada still has wonderful people like Melanie.
The commenters here are the same way.
81.1% of the Canadian population is vaccinated against COVID.
18.9% aren’t.
Are you vaccinated against COVID?
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
If you spend any time on “X” reading posts on the subject, you will understand how completely stupid so many of our fellow citizens are. People think it should be built regardless of cost, and regardless of whether anyone will use it. Because it’s “nation building” and Canada is supposedly behind the rest of the world or something. Venn diagram of people stupid enough to think this is a good idea and liberal voters is a single circle.
Ironic that their ‘Nation Building SNC Lavalin Rail Scam’ will piss Alberta off more and boost support for splitting the gong show country up.
Then again maybe the ‘Alberta Separation Rail Scam’ might be a good idea in the long run.
To put the 90 billion dollars spent on a high speed rail vanity project in perspective, the money could instead be used to build:
Clean power – 8 x1000MW nuclear power plants. 8 nukes would replace every coal fired power plant in Canada with over 4000MW to spare that could be used to power industries, AI or whatever.
Healthcare – CAD 90 billion could fund the construction of roughly 30–60 new mid-to-large hospitals (or equivalent in beds), or pay the annual salaries of about 200,000–300,000 doctors, or roughly 800,000–1.1 million registered nurses
Houses – With CAD 90 billion, you could realistically build 200,000–300,000+ of 1,200 sq ft homes in places like Hamilton, Calgary or Moncton.
Of course, the actual price tag for the high speed rail project will likely be 3x to 5x the projected cost so each of the above nuclear plants, healthcare projects and homes built could safely be tripled.
The money is not going to be spent on the rail project. It will be used to line the pockets of assorted politicians among the Laurentian Elite and their besties. Look at how that worked in California.
Yep, a 90 billion dollar taxpayer funded laundromat.
Here’s a quote of a guy who calls himself a policy wonk and economist responding to Melanie
“Funny, when we help out grain farmers, people in Toronto don’t benefit. Same with the ocean fisheries.”
Can you imagine being this stupid, call yourself an economist, and you don’t realize food doesn’t just appear in a grocery store by magic.
Yes, anyone who pretends that food security, energy security or national security is equivalent to getting between major cities in Ontario and Quebec a little bit faster than the existing roads, trains and airlines servicing the area…is probably an idiot. Likely the same type of “expert” Canadian economist who thought spending taxpayer money on cricket factories, battery plants and EVs in Ontario and Quebec was a good investment.
Is food security a code word for agricultural subsidies?
AID to farmers is primarily for government control purposes, not benefit.
Funny, when we help out grain farmers, people in Toronto don’t benefit. Same with the ocean fisheries.
People in Tranna don’t eat/drink grain products? I see a current TV commercial for Quaker Oats & all the jobs it creates in Peterborough. Curious, that.
And Canadians don’t eat fish?
Somebody needs to tell this fool to pull his pretty head out of his ass & FOAD.
Can anyone explain how a fast passenger train will produce 35 billion in new GDP when there are existing passenger transport options available?
What is new? Aren’t they just using a train to move passengers that currently take the bus, a car, or fly?
Their 35 billion lie implies there will be an additional new 35 billion worth of GDP from new passenger travel.
“Yabbut for every dollar spent in construction there will be seven dollars in new economic activity.”
So build ten new rail lines, side by side. Ten times seven dollars in new economic activity, right?
The multiplier effect has an opposite de-multiplier effect, there’s 9O billion dollars taken rom taxpayers who now can’t spend it to stimulate the economy.
And just for laughs ask a Liberal what the plan is to pay back the 9O billion.
All figures and projections are pulled out of some bureaucrat’s ass. Reading “Regulatory Impact Statements” in the Canada Gazette makes you shake your head in bewilderment.
National Post has an article on this. Claims that the 90 billion is enough to fund a bunch of moon missions and a moon base (just for perspective). And, does anyone think for a second that the price tag will remain $90 billion. Just imagine this amount put into healthcare infrastructure across Canada and balanced out by population.
I am more a separatist every day. Canada from Manitoba East is not worth it; tired of being bent over out here in Saskatchewan. The nerve of Dick Wab in Manitoba to block pipelines while depending entirely on massive equalization support is enough for me to walk away.
“And just for laughs ask a Liberal what the plan is to pay back the 9O billion.”
Ask them how long it’ll take to break even at $100 per ticket, pretending that every train that runs is full and they never spend another penny for anything. Oh, and no interest.
Let’s pretend 5 trains a day, 1000 passengers per train, every day. $50,000 a day. That comes to 1,800,000 days. Roughly 4,900 years. To break even. Double the age of Christianity.
Oh, but let’s really jam it to the passengers! $1000 a ticket!!! Helz yeah!
Then it’ll only take 490 years.
I strongly think it would be cheaper to build a hotel on the moon and fly people there.
It’s magical government math, and has nothing to do with reality.
No government project will ever result in lower GDP, just look at the initial estimates for the Carbon tax where they claimed it would have no effect/within the natural variability of GDP
It won’t get built.
Proposed tracks run through un-ceded territory, the court cases or bribery contract talks will take so long the Cons might actually get back into power and kill it. (Gotta dream sometimes!)
The usual suspects will get their pockets well lined with taxpayer dollars. You know: politicians, liberal donors (businesses), contractors and special interests.
Note: There is a single line rail track running to the Ottawa Terminal, and this rail line runs over some very old, sometimes decrepit, infrastructure. There is a bridge over Prince of Wales Drive that is scary to drive under, even without a train going over. There is not much room to install a second rail line, or in some cases even expand some of the bridges. This project is a nightmare and can only be a boondoggle for all the right players.
You and I are not the right players. It’s still going to cost us a pile.
Sorry Melanie, but the construction costs would only be the beginning. You’ll be also asked (through your taxes), to subsidize the cost of each ticket, from the start, till…. forever. And then, don’t forget the maintenance costs. Good Liberals will get that contract too.
We don’t live in a First World country !!! I found that out a month or so ago, when for the first time in my 6 decade life, drove by vehicle to the Toronto area. being retired now, I have the extra time to see what I’d normally fly over.
– Do you know that we don’t even have a 4 lane highway from Toronto or (Ottawa) to Saskatchewan(Canada’s so called TransCanada Hwy???
– That for hundreds of kilometers the speed limit is 90kms/hr(strictly enforced, with warnings about penalties for exceeding the, limit every couple miles)???
– That you have to routinely have to slow to 60 or 40 kms on Canada’s TransCanada Hwy??? It’s no wonder why there is no east-west trade between provinces.
– Frequently you see trains parked on a siding waiting for another train to pass, because this country still doesn’t have dual track to move freight across it’s expanse, without having a train slow down and stop, then wait, talk about efficiency(added costs to the consumer)
BTW, we stayed in nice chain Hotels for our road trip there and back. Every worker we saw was some shade of brown, except for our stop in Dryden.
My opinion,,, Liberal Party = Organized Criminal Enterprise
L – The lack of a four lane Trans-Canada highway and a dual track cross Canada railway, plus the grotesque malfeasance of the Dark Tetrad running Ottawa. It is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. The 21st Century belongs to an Independent Alberta and Saskatchewan: Peace, Prosperity and Freedom under Moral Law. The new National Dream !
Funny thing, we do actually have 2 sets of tracks running across Canada, and in Ontario, they do directional running from South of Perry Sound to Close to Sudbury…
Unfortunately, you can’t do that across the whole country, and the railway companies only do builds that benefit them, almost a decade ago the started extending sidings for meets, but they only built out to 13,000 feet, which doesn’t help trains that are running at 16,000 feet.
“…About 2,600 kilometres from the nearest stop on your proposed $90 billion train.”
I’m only 200K from that proposed train but I’ll never use it either. There’s nothing in Toronto or Montreal I want any part of, thanks.
Besides, it’ll be full of nothing but TFWs with scooters and electric bikes, commuting to their Door-Dash gigs. Same as Go Transit but more expensive. (Anybody been on Go lately? It’s nuts.)
skill testing Question: just who the blazes is going to use said rapid rail? when the job market is on life support, transporting goods just increase the cost hugely, etc etc? WHY do *so many of us* need to ‘go from A to B’ wherever on the line A and B are?
on the question of ABSK independence:
do NOT premise it on ‘joining’ ANYONE there is NO NEED TO JOIN you have all you need to be an independent stand alone nation, what you need to do is carve out very mutually advantageous trade agreements with the southern neighbor including pipeline(s) finally.
there is a curious phenomenon with ‘hiving off’ be it gracefully or violent revolution.
there is a ‘sweet spot’ whereby sufficient outrage and disconetent leads to the *attempt* BUT the elites have not yet marshalled tricks gimmicks, propaganda, and further rights abuse as to make it difficult to organize a referendum or large meetings of sympathizers that get ‘busted up’ by the famous thugs with badges.
as l see it, the way around this dilemma, GET GOING GET THE HELL OUT BEFORE THE TIPPING POINT IS PAST AND YOU NEVER HAVE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY.
got that ABSK? its just going to get WORSE as TROC get more and more in hock and defrauds you of $2,000,000,000,000 2 TRILLION in total? you going to let the Lauretians DO THAT to you?
get out get out get out get out NOW
It’s more than just pipelines of oil and gas that Alberta and Saskatchewan could offer in a trade deal. Independence from Canada also means being able to remove ourselves from Canada’s business cartels. Not just dairy and poultry marketing boards but the banking, airline, telecommunication and grocery cartels. I would imagine American businesses could fairly easily be allowed to expand into the new country in exchange for a fair trade and defense deal.
oh ye gawds no kidding. what a ‘fresh start’ awaits. all manner of corrections and transparency and ‘enlightened self interest’ iunlike the annual mugging those country hicks keep getting when the transfer payment invoice is presented.
are there countless example whereby an individual stands up and says ‘enough l want a better deal or lm outta here’? sports stars, busines leaders, unions in the past, (note how l qualify that) family relationships, divorce court, abusive ‘friendships’ on and on. well, *why cant a whole province with gnp exceeding other presently existing whole nations with far less resources?* whats the impediment?
its that ‘inertia’ that gonna drag you down ABSK. git offen yer backside before they BREAK YOUR LEGS.
Marx carnage and his minions are dedicated to breaking Canada up.
What would they have done differently,if destroying Confederation,was not their agenda?
All Westerners will owe Marx Carnage a vote of “Thanks,no thanks”.
The man is the patron saint of Western Independence.
Just as Saint Allen Roche is the patron saint of cached guns and ammunition.
Thanks to St Allen,Canada lost track of 19 million long-guns and the ammo that went with them.
St Carnage will be remembered as the Ottawa Idiot who was the last Prime Minister of Canada,the man who made Alberta and Saskatchewan wake up and break the suicide pact that was Can Ahh Duh.
Who knew?
It takes a bankster.
heh heh heh. there was a huge parliament hill presence of 1,000s gun owners and hunting enthusiasts that curiously a lien rock did speak to back around late 80s? juuuuuuust before a LIEberal leadership convention.
all l got out of the blather was scripted responses and no intention of reforming the proposed gun laws. it occured to me is this going to be a regular thing? winds up yep, there was the pathetic Kimmy Kim Campbell wild stab at it, then nxt big move was the TURDeau, now the scoops are out.
Marx Carnage was never a banker
He was/is a senior bureaucrat
And this high speed train, can anyone else see it too?
https://x.com/RealJamesWoods/status/2039229886372671694
This liberal brain fart to provide more train service to a corridor that is already well serviced with a rail service that is underused is premised on the falicy if you build it they will come.
I mean it’s worked on all the other federal vanity projects centered around Quebec in the past so well, like the Olympics, which was claimed could no more go over budget than a man could get an abortion.
But it does reflect what liberals consider nation building.
We are the Potemkin village of Europe.
The only Olympics to turn a profit was Calgary.
The government is paying $5 billion for another study and initial design, which of course won’t get built, and even when they start, it won’t stop at $90 billion, but likely 3 to 7 times that.
The announcement of the Hi-Speed Train $90 Billion.
1 By-Election in Quebec …….. 2 By-Election’s in Ontario
SC-Lavilin resurfaces under new name
LieBrano PM Conman Carnage Carney giving his word salad speech’s
The MSM & Opinion Popularity Polls fawning over the Liebrano’s.
‘LC Bennett’ – Yep, a 90 billion dollar taxpayer funded laundromat.
90 billion huh? Oh no, we can wring a lot more dollars over decades with this!
First, there’s the route. It’s gotta go through several First Nations. Meetings and negotiations – all catered, of course, on the taxpayer dime – that could stretch out for fifteen years, easy! Just think of the consulting fees.
And we need a new cabinet position, with a small staff … heh …
Then those juicy construction contracts, Lavalin will need to use subcontractors, and that’ll satisfy the mafia for a while.
The cars will of course be maglev. Hey, Bombardier, you doing anything?
Oh, we can line our pockets for generations with this!
— some government back room in Hull