No new highways?
Re: Guilbeault declares Ottawa to stop funding new highways — Don Braid, Feb. 15; and Dead-end roads policy — Letter to the editor, Feb. 24
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s belief that the federal government no longer needs to spend, er, “invest” any money on roads and highways — our transportation system already being entirely sufficient for the soon-to-be-rapidly-declining number of motor vehicles plying the byways of the nation — seems incredibly odd to me. Having had firsthand experience of driving vast distances across this large country, my impression has been that the system, particularly our sole Trans-canada Highway, is far from being sufficient.
Indeed, Wikipedia reveals that: “Currently, over half of the mainline Trans-canada Highway is still in its original two-lane state, with no bypasses, interchanges and few passing opportunities. Only about 15 per cent of the mainline route is at freeway standards similar to those of the (U.S.) Interstate Highway system.”
The TCH also does not enter any of the three northern territories, nor does it touch the U.S. border. New Brunswick is the sole province whose entire length of the TCH is at four-lane freeway standards.
One might think that development of a safe and efficient, coast-to-coast (to coast, as the prime minister likes to say) transportation corridor might be a suitable project for a national government interested in nation-building, removing inter-provincial trade barriers, lowering costs for businesses and entrepreneurs, and improving the national economy and quality of life for its citizens. Alas, our current government does not seem to be all that interested in any of those things.
Harry Koza, Toronto
In response to Steven Guilbeault’s suggestion to end major highway funding by the federal government, a letter writer asked: “How do you build a mine in the middle of nowhere and then ship the product to market without roads?”
In the 1950s, a railroad was built from Sept Îsles to Schefferville, Que., to haul iron ore, and a decade later, the “Alberta Resources Railroad” was built from Hinton, Alta., to Hay River, N.W.T., to haul uranium.
In the 1980s, an electric-powered railroad was built around and through mountains in northwestern British Columbia to haul coal for export.
In the near future, an electric-powered railroad may be extended north from the CN Rail mainline into the Ring of Fire mineral prospect in northern Ontario.
As well, high-speed, electric-powered trains may eventually whisk passengers between Toronto-montreal, Calgary-edmonton, and Vancouver-seattle.
Derek Wilson, Port Moody, B.C.