The percentage of people cycling or walking to work declined by 26% in the same period.48 In short, more Canadians seem to be driving to get to work, less are walking and cycling, and only 11% use public transit.49 As the Urban Transportation Task Force noted in a recent report, “there is a growing need for transit to operate within suburban areas, from suburban areas to central areas, and between [...] In fact, as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities noted in 2007, “Canada remains the only OECD country without a long-term, predictable, federal, transit-investment policy,”61 and the “only G8 country without a national transportation program.”62 Similarly, Canada is one of the only member countries within the OECD, and the only member of the G8 that has no concrete plans to develop High Speed [...] The last comprehensive government study on HSR in the corridor, commissioned by the governments of Ontario, Québec, and Canada, and conducted by SNC Lavalin in 1995, suggested that the project would cost between $6.5 billion and $9.5 billion (though the study made no mention of the reduction in GHG emissions that would accrue from reduced automobile and airplane travel within the corridor).96 As a [...] In view of the economic circumstances at the time, the study suggested that the initiatives for the next stage of the project should lie with the private sector.97 The proposal to make the high speed rail project a de facto Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was problematic. [...] In coordinating the transfer of a fair share of the carbon revenues to the provinces, the latter governments could use the funds to help subsidize large transit and rail infrastructure projects.
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