OTTAWA — The three top contenders to replace Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal party say they’ll honour the departing prime minister’s pledge to help bankroll a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City.
Emily Williams, a spokesperson for presumed frontrunner Mark Carney, said on Monday that connecting the two provincial capitals via high-speed rail would be a slam-dunk for Canada’s economy.
“More connections mean more growth — by linking Canada’s economic hubs, we will create thousands of well-paying jobs and strengthen our local economies,” Williams said in an email to the National Post.
Carney, who’s used the line “build, baby, build” on the campaign trail, has promised to invest billions in port, rail and other critical transportation infrastructure.
Trudeau raised a few eyebrows last Wednesday when he promised $3.9 billion over six years in support of the project, with the clock quickly running down on his time in office.
The soon-to-be-departing prime minister said the spending will commence in the 2024-25 fiscal year, with further details, such the location of stops and a timeline for the project’s completion, to come.
Liberal leadership candidate and ex-finance minister Chrystia Freeland was quick to endorse the prime minister’s proposal at a campaign stop in Quebec last week.
”This is a great investment in Canada’s economy and a great investment for Canada,” Freeland told reporters.
Fellow leadership candidate Karina Gould took to X to voice her support for Trudeau’s high-speed rail pitch.
“Great news! The federal government is moving forward on high-rail between Quebec City & Toronto. I fully support this important investment and will continue to,” tweeted Gould.
The only Liberal leadership candidate not fully onboard with the idea, as of Monday, was longshot outsider Frank Baylis.
“He doesn’t want to just jump on a bandwagon,” said Baylis spokesperson Justine McIntyre.
McIntyre said that Trudeau still had some work to do to show that the project was in the taxpayers’ best interest.
”When we say $3.9 billion, that’s just the initial cost of the project. How much will the total cost be?”
The four Liberal leadership contenders faced off in Montreal on Monday evening for the first of two official debates.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said on Monday she doubted the project would be built under the Liberals.
“The reality is the Liberal Party of Canada has built virtually nothing for Canadians,” Rempel Garner told reporters in Ottawa.
But the Conservatives aren’t saying a hard ‘no’ to high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City.
“Let’s see a plan!” said Conservative spokesman Sam Lilly in an email to the National Post.
Conservative party’s electoral fortunes in Quebec will hinge heavily on the Greater Quebec City Area, regularly the most Conservative-friendly region in the province.
Trudeau’s last-minute pledge for a rail network serving Quebec’s capital region puts the Conservatives in a tough spot, obviously not wanting to put their lone beachhead in the province at risk.
Meanwhile, Trudeau’s proposal is getting support from an unlikely corner: Alberta.
Alberta Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen said that his biggest concern is that the high-speed rail initiative doesn’t go far enough.
”Let’s make it a true economic corridor, so that not just high-speed rail could go through there, but you could have other projects that could fit within that right-of-way the federal government is looking to buy,” said Dreeshen.
Dreeshen, who was in Quebec City last week, wrote to Liberal Transportation Minister Anita Anand on Friday, asking her to set up a federal-provincial-territorial working group on interprovincial mega-infrastructure projects.
National Post
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