A favourite summer activity, complaining about air and train travel in Canada.
Regarding rail, yes, the current arrangement is sad. The solution is quite simple, dedicated passenger rail tracks. Ideally high speed (but honestly, I would only do that for the Toronto - Montreal route), but dedicated tracks would allow trains at 160-180 km/h. That would make travel times competitive with air on a door-to-door basis.
For air travel, Canadians love to complain and point to Europe where you can fly for less than $100 from the UK to Spain. What we seem to forget is that Canada’s land mass is twice the size of Europe, with a population less than Spain. A more competitive approach in Canada might help, but there is no magic here, population is low, distances are large. And when it comes to airports, Pearson is far preferable to many hubs in Europe or the US (trust me, I have seen them all).
Totally agree with the need for improved transportation - both air and rail. Via Rail between Ottawa and & TO is excellent. A relaxing civilized ride with good food and space for doing some last minute work on your laptop prior to your meeting in TO.
I agree with the strong need to facilitate effective Canada wide travel. The decline in national vacationing has contributed to our increasing detachment and fragmentation. Canadians need to visit each other and get to know each other better again.
Brian Mulroney's government axed the railways in the late 1980's and I remember people being very, very upset. National railways seemed to be an important feature of our identity and linked us in our wide-spread diversity. (remember "The Last Spike") All across the country the railroad was derailed. Now we can hike the bare track lines or snowmobile and ATV them, but...
Mulroney also privatized Air Canada. Even though it's traded publically, American corporate investment companies hold the largest number of shares in Air Canada. Many lauded Brian Mulroney for strengthening our ties to the U.S. (Not me. Not my friends and family, BTW ), so...
Then, the Chrétien government privatized CN Railway in 1998 and many of us Canadians were really upset. Bill Gates, incidentally, owns the greatest shares of CN.
You see where it's going here? Taking back something that was sold out long ago is not going to be cheap nor easy.
A favourite summer activity, complaining about air and train travel in Canada.
Regarding rail, yes, the current arrangement is sad. The solution is quite simple, dedicated passenger rail tracks. Ideally high speed (but honestly, I would only do that for the Toronto - Montreal route), but dedicated tracks would allow trains at 160-180 km/h. That would make travel times competitive with air on a door-to-door basis.
For air travel, Canadians love to complain and point to Europe where you can fly for less than $100 from the UK to Spain. What we seem to forget is that Canada’s land mass is twice the size of Europe, with a population less than Spain. A more competitive approach in Canada might help, but there is no magic here, population is low, distances are large. And when it comes to airports, Pearson is far preferable to many hubs in Europe or the US (trust me, I have seen them all).
Totally agree with the need for improved transportation - both air and rail. Via Rail between Ottawa and & TO is excellent. A relaxing civilized ride with good food and space for doing some last minute work on your laptop prior to your meeting in TO.
I agree with the strong need to facilitate effective Canada wide travel. The decline in national vacationing has contributed to our increasing detachment and fragmentation. Canadians need to visit each other and get to know each other better again.
Brian Mulroney's government axed the railways in the late 1980's and I remember people being very, very upset. National railways seemed to be an important feature of our identity and linked us in our wide-spread diversity. (remember "The Last Spike") All across the country the railroad was derailed. Now we can hike the bare track lines or snowmobile and ATV them, but...
Mulroney also privatized Air Canada. Even though it's traded publically, American corporate investment companies hold the largest number of shares in Air Canada. Many lauded Brian Mulroney for strengthening our ties to the U.S. (Not me. Not my friends and family, BTW ), so...
Then, the Chrétien government privatized CN Railway in 1998 and many of us Canadians were really upset. Bill Gates, incidentally, owns the greatest shares of CN.
You see where it's going here? Taking back something that was sold out long ago is not going to be cheap nor easy.
O, Canada, what have we done? ❤️🇨🇦
Yeah, our rail, bus, and plane travel suck today in Canada in 2025 and are too expensive because of Mulroney back in 1984.
I’m sure Harper and Sir John A MacDonald, and Augustus Caesar are also to blame. FFS 🤦