Comments on: Never let a crisis to go to waste http://www.p2pnet.net/story/17753 p2pnet.net - reader powered Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:25:05 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Liz Newton http://www.p2pnet.net/story/17753/comment-page-1#comment-901578 Liz Newton Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:27:15 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/17753#comment-901578 Some very interesting ideas from Mr. Knopf. It would be wonderful to see Ottawa take on just one major, thoughtful project of the kind outlined above. I was listening to CBC a few days ago (there are some good programs on there) and someone was talking about how Harper as a right wing, trained economist might have a hard time accepting the new reality of governments stimulating national economies to get them out of the current crisis. I think the problem with Harper is not so much that he is a right wing economist but that his mind is that of a book-keeper. As for Knopf's first suggestion, we took a rail trip from Vancouver to Toronto this summer and what an education that was: VIA trains run on track owned by Canadian Pacific and CP's commercial freight trains take precedence over passenger rail traffic. Consequently, the train was 4 hours late arriving to Toronto, causing significant problems for several passengers. VIA's attitude was this was perfectly normal and acceptable. Yes, it is high time Canada stepped into the 21st century in terms of rail travel. The country was shaped to some extent by the building of the original rails and perhaps new, more dependable rail travel to take us east to west or vice versa might produce a bit more national unity again. Some very interesting ideas from Mr. Knopf. It would be wonderful to see Ottawa take on just one major, thoughtful project of the kind outlined above. I was listening to CBC a few days ago (there are some good programs on there) and someone was talking about how Harper as a right wing, trained economist might have a hard time accepting the new reality of governments stimulating national economies to get them out of the current crisis. I think the problem with Harper is not so much that he is a right wing economist but that his mind is that of a book-keeper.

As for Knopf’s first suggestion, we took a rail trip from Vancouver to Toronto this summer and what an education that was: VIA trains run on track owned by Canadian Pacific and CP’s commercial freight trains take precedence over passenger rail traffic. Consequently, the train was 4 hours late arriving to Toronto, causing significant problems for several passengers. VIA’s attitude was this was perfectly normal and acceptable. Yes, it is high time Canada stepped into the 21st century in terms of rail travel. The country was shaped to some extent by the building of the original rails and perhaps new, more dependable rail travel to take us east to west or vice versa might produce a bit more national unity again.

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