so, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that the high-speed rail plan in ontario isn't what the tory media is presenting it as.

unfortunately, it isn't really what i want it to be, either.

i look at the expanding toronto megacity, which is expanding quickly to it's west, and the most immediately pressing issue to me is in trying to figure out how we get all these cars off the road. downtown toronto has a large, successful & rather popular electric transit system (that doug ford seems to not like so much...). how do we expand that system to the rest of the mega-city?

& that's really the crux of the reality, here - that london is being absorbed into a suburb of toronto, and that the city needs expanded inter-city transit options.

what i'd like to see is consequently a kind of expansion of the subway system, with the purposes of easing congestion - and reducing emissions. a high speed rail system could in theory do that, by convincing people to take the train to work instead of driving.

and, i'm all in favour of that.

but, it seems a little pricey, for that end, and that seems to be the problem that these systems are facing, elsewhere: it just costs too much.

i'd be willing to see the province subsidize that. but, it seems to be pitching it as an economic driver instead of as a climate change plan, and the whole thing is consequently existing in this imaginary narrative - it's being pitched as something it won't be, and then deconstructed on terms it shouldn't be aspiring towards.

another aspect that is being overlooked is that, if the train is successful, it could conceivably help lower electricity costs. remember: electricity prices are high because the transition to electric vehicles never happened. at this point, it may be easier to get people to take the electric train than it is to get them to buy an electric car, but the effect should be more or less the same, if we can shift generation away from freeways and into windfarms.

we're currently just wasting all this generation, and then paying for it through higher rates. but, you won't see this discussion in the tory media, either - nor will you see it from the government, which doesn't want to talk about it.

so, i do support the rail line expansion - but i support it on climate grounds, not economic ones. and, i'd even like to see the province subsidize it to get it going, and ultimately treat it less like an exclusive cab system for the wealthy and more like an expansion of the subway system.