[MolsonExport]

Personally, I have always been for this project. What do you all think?

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/534489

Ontario and Quebec push speedy train link
The Toronto Star
Nov 11, 2008 04:30 AM
Richard Brennan, Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA–Ontario and Quebec say the federal government should back a multi-billion-dollar high-speed train link from Windsor to Quebec City to create jobs and a lasting legacy for a country struggling with hard economic times.

"It's more than just an infrastructure project. It's visionary in nature," Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday. "I'm hoping that we can turn this (economic) crisis into an opportunity to actually act as a catalyst to move this project along," he told reporters.

The premiers and territorial leaders were in Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the economy and to discuss ways to create jobs, especially in areas hard hit by manufacturing job losses.

"They could send a powerful signal by saying the fast train project between Quebec City ... and Windsor is going to happen," Quebec Premier Jean Charest said yesterday of a proposed high-speed train that could get travellers from Toronto to Montreal in less than 2 1/2 hours.

"I am of the conviction that this is a project that must be carried out ... it's an excellent project and the time is all the more important because of traffic problems and from an environmental perspective," Charest said.

Both McGuinty and Charest raised the long-discussed project with Harper, who said he would wait to see the results of the latest study to be commissioned.

"I could see the wheels spinning as the Prime Minister considered this. One of the things that this time calls for are just a few visionary projects that speak to our continuing investment in and hope associated with the promise of our future," McGuinty said.

The 1,150-kilometre route has been studied many times over the decades. In 1995 the estimated cost was $18.3 billion, and, when adjusted for inflation, the cost today would be almost $25 billion.

Charest and McGuinty, along with the federal government, announced in January another high-speed rail study, with each government throwing in $1 million to hire a consultant to review the previous reports and come up with something that meets today's needs.