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Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Build, baby, build: Canada used to know how to do that
The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven on Nov. 7, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia. It was the fulfillment of the National Dream – we used to do things in all caps – of a ribbon of steel binding the country together, and securing our independence from the United States. It was the world's longest rail line at that time, and an exceptional engineering feat, driven across the forbidding Canadian Shield and through a wall of mountains in B.C. And building it took just three and a half years. The first spike was driven in Bonfield, Ont., 3,500 kilometres east of Craigellachie, in the spring of 1882. Three and a half years to make a National Dream. Are we still able to dream big? And make big things happen? With the nation's first ministers meeting on Monday to talk about Prime Minister Mark Carney's goal of 'build, baby, build,' it's worth remembering that, until not so long ago, Canada knew how to do that. We could build big, we could built quickly and we could build at reasonable cost. Sometimes all three. Here are a few examples. Construction on Canada's first subway began on Sept. 8, 1949. Toronto's 7.4-km, 12-station line was opened to passengers on March 30, 1954. That's four and a half years from start to finish. Even if we date the start to when the citizens of Toronto agreed to the project in a plebiscite, in January, 1946, it was just eight years from idea to execution. Fast forward to the present, and the Eglinton Crosstown. It's been under construction since 2011. It's light rail – not the heavy rail of a subway – and much of the route is on the surface, as a scaled-up streetcar. It's still not open. Or consider the creation of the Montreal Metro. In November, 1961, the city decided to build a subway system, all underground. Construction started in the spring of 1962 and three lines, with 26 stations, were fully open by the spring of 1967. That's five years from decision to completion, or four and a half years from first shovel to first passenger. And then there was Expo 67. The 1967 world's fair was originally awarded to Moscow, but late in the game it pulled out. Montreal submitted a last-minute bid and was awarded the fair on Nov. 13, 1962. Construction started on Aug. 13, 1963. Here's what that entailed: Enlarging an island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River. Creating another from landfill. Building a three-station, 4-kilometre Metro line, running under the river. Building the Expo Express, a five-station, 7.5-km rail line – a surface subway, with rolling stock similar to the Toronto subway – which was also North America's first computer-controlled, driverless transit line. Building the Pont de la Concorde bridge. Building a 25,000-seat stadium, the Autostade. Building mass transit within the Expo site, known as the Minirail, an elevated, driverless monorail. Building 90 exposition pavilions, some of which were large and architecturally advanced, including the 20-storey tall U.S. geodesic dome, which the Minirail passed through, and Canada's giant inverted pyramid, Katimavik. And building Habitat 67, a futuristic experimental housing development. Expo 67 opened on April 27, 1967. That's four and half years from conception to completion, or just 44 months from the start of construction the big reveal. The fair expected 12 million visitors. It got 55 million. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Toronto's School of Cities published a report on the massive cost escalation in one of the things we must build more of – public transit. Current projects in the Toronto area, which are overseen by the provincial agency Metrolinx, have a price tag seven to ten times higher per kilometre than the original Yonge subway, even after adjusting for inflation. The researchers found that, from the 1950s to the 1990s, the cost of new high-capacity transit lines in Toronto was stable at around $100-million per kilometre, after adjusting for inflation. Thereafter, costs exploded. The extension of the subway into Vaughan a decade ago cost nearly $400-million per kilometre. Planned subway extensions to Scarborough and York region are budgeted at almost $800-million a kilometre. The under-construction Ontario Line is expected to clock in at over $1-billion per kilometre. Even the Finch West LRT – it's light rail running at street level, which is supposed to be cheap and easy – is expected to cost twice as much per kilometre as a tunnelled subway did a generation ago. Many advanced countries – South Korea, Finland, France, Spain and others – build the same or better transit at lower cost, and often much lower cost. Canada tends to tie itself in knots in various ways, so that we end up spending more but getting less. It happens in transit, and beyond. Build, baby, build? It's not impossible. Others do it. We used to. The first scheduled passenger train on what was then the world's longest transcontinental railway journey left Montreal's Dalhousie Station on June 28, 1886. It arrived at Port Moody, outside Vancouver, 136 hours and one minute later. It was one minute behind schedule.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
6 of the best train trips in British Columbia
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province, is well known for its spectacular landscapes, offering endless views of serrated peaks, opaline glacier lakes and feather-tipped pines. And what better way to take it all in than on a train, with those big-picture vistas slowly rolling by beyond the windowpanes — here are some of the best rail routes to try. Vancouver to Banff; 2 daysThis double-decker train is surely one of the world's most scenic rail journeys, offering bubble-domed vistas of mountains, lakes, forests, gorges, rivers and glaciers and the chance to spot wildlife along the way. The classic First Passage to the West route follows part of the line from the historic Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's first transcontinental train journey, which travelled from Montreal to Vancouver. It starts in Vancouver before passing the Fraser River for an overnight in Kamloops then continuing into the Rockies via the sheer-sided valley of Kicking Horse Pass, the glacial-blue expanse of Lake Louise and the pretty mountain town of Banff. On board, waistcoated hosts serve cocktails to your seat, with three-course meals on offer in the dining car, including a section of sommelier-picked Canadian wines. From £1,389 per person. Prince Rupert to Jasper; 2 daysInaugurated in 1914, the Skeena offers an epic, 1,160-mile journey that carries you all the way from the Pacific coast into the Rocky Mountains. Also known as the 'Rupert Rocket', it runs three times a week between Prince Rupert and Jasper, with an overnight stop in Prince George en route. Along the way, it travels through some spectacularly wild scenery — from pristine forest to steep canyons and glacial lakes — and is one of the few railways in North America that offers a 'flag' service, allowing passengers to flag it down between scheduled stations. As such, it's a favourite for hikers, adventurers and others keen on exploring BC's backcountry — and it runs year-round, no matter the weather. From C$163 (£91) per person. (Related: Try the Skeena, a budget alternative to Canada's famous Rocky Mountaineer.) Faulder to Trout Creek; 90 minutesThis historic route was originally built between 1910 and 1916 to link the mainline between Montreal and Vancouver with southern BC — an area rich in resources, from fruit, grain and lumber to precious metals and minerals. It continued to carry freight until its closure in 1989, but it's now been resurrected as a heritage steam railway. The vintage steam locomotive dates from 1912, with open-sided carriages offering uninhibited views of the scenery. The route follows 16 miles of restored track through the vineyards and farms of the Okanagan Valley, an area renowned for producing some of Canada's best wines. From C$33 (£18) per person; Vancouver to Jasper; 3 daysYou won't need to choose between the mountains and the coast on this alternative Rocky Mountaineer route, which runs up the Pacific seaboard from Vancouver via the ski slopes of Whistler and the old logging town of Quesnel, before heading inland across the gold fields of the Cariboo Plateau. It finishes up in Jasper, across the border in Alberta, and there are two overnight stops en route, allowing plenty of time to stretch your legs and explore. From CA$4,929 (£2,776) per person. Vancouver to Seattle; 4½ hoursThe Amtrak line offers the chance to shuttle between the big cities on either side of the US-Canada border, including Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. The trains that ply this route are simple but spacious, with large, comfy seats, a bistro car and a viewing lounge dedicated to taking in the scenery. And what a view it is: expect to see endless feather-tipped pines, glacier-blue bays and alpine meadows mixed in with classic mountain towns. From US$44 (£34) per person. Port Alberni; 25 minutesVancouver Island's booming lumber industry once required the services of many a chugging steam train, but all have vanished now save for this one in Port Alberni, the small city that stands at the head of Alberni Inlet, the waterway that runs inland for 34 miles from the island's south coast. Once a centre for logging and paper making, Port Alberni isn't the prettiest city in BC, but the waterfront remains an important hub for the town. It's also where you'll find this steam railway and its vintage carriages, pulled by a #7 Baldwin locomotive dating from 1929. An atmospheric relic of the island's industrial past, it's now run by enthusiasts entirely for love, not profit, and offers views of the Alberni waterfront and the hills beyond. C$8 per person. Published in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
Globe and Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Remember, remember, the economic lessons from Canada's uneasy past
John Turley-Ewart is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail, a regulatory compliance consultant and a Canadian banking historian. Monday, Victoria Day, is the past's shout-out to the present. The current moment makes that shout-out all the more poignant: A reminder from Victorian era Canadians that they forged a working federation while laying rails to hang an economy on. They were nation builders. Queen Victoria, whom the day honours, was a strong proponent of Confederation in 1867. She told a Canadian delegation she took the 'deepest interest in it' because she believed it would make her North American provinces 'great and prosperous.' And such was the dream. By 1876 the Intercolonial Railway was in place, connecting the economies of the Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec. Treaties were being signed with Plains First Nations and Dominion Land Surveys were developed in Western Canada to divide land into parcels of one square mile for farming and inexpensive homesteads. Canada was a new frontier for investment. Capital flowed from Britain, new banks and insurance firms were founded. Immigrants were arriving. In November of 1885 the greatest infrastructure achievement of Victorian Canada was completed, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Using iron spikes, workers fastened a transcontinental economy to the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The work was hard, the idea of Canada caught people's imagination, but the gap between its promise and the economic reality gave reason for many to think Canada was a failed project. Despite completing the CPR, the economy wobbled, banks failed, and Ottawa's coffers ran low. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians moved south to the United States in the 1880s and early 1890s. While Canada's current Liberal Prime Minister, Mark Carney, rightly said 'never' to the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state in his recent visit to the White House, some Liberals in the late 1880s said 'maybe' to the idea back then. The union that Queen Victoria presided over, after all, was an alliance of strangers. There was little truck or trade between the three-and-a-half million people spread across a giant continent. Most provinces were more familiar with their U.S. neighbours than each other. The appeal of late 19th-century America to Canadians of the time rings familiar today. Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford – the billionaires of their day were the faces of a modern industrial economy that produced skyscrapers, the modern corporation, modern steel production, modern finance, the petroleum industry and the beginnings of the auto industry. In contrast, Canada seemed a motley crew of regions that trains happened to roll through from time to time. The promise of a national economy was not a reality. What changed? Investments that farmers in Ontario and Quebec were making in new equipment and farming methods to improve productivity in the late 1880s and 1890s began paying off as the 20th century approached. The result was bumper crops and bumper profits from sales to export markets that also spread to the Prairies. This reinforced the demand for new farm equipment, driving added manufacturing capacity and innovation in the process. The knock-on effect could be seen in the growth of banking and the demand for engineers, lawyers and a professional managerial class. With more deposits coming from farmers in Ontario and Quebec, there was more capital to support larger, complex projects that continued to give momentum to productivity improvements, including two new national railways built between 1900 and 1912. Mining for gold, silver and other minerals took off in Ontario and B.C. Developing efficient sources of energy, such as hydroelectric power in Ontario and Quebec helped electrify cities while making it easier to produce steel as well as pulp and paper. Today, Canada is in the kind of economic ebb that tested the country in the late 1880s. If Canadians who built the economic foundations of Canada in the three decades after Confederation could speak, they would tell us that national infrastructure isn't enough. Building productive businesses is equally important if you want the prosperity Queen Victoria believed Canada was capable of.
Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Peril in the St. Lawrence
When it comes to maritime disasters, the 'big' events spring to mind. In 1912, the RMS Titanic gets eviscerated by an iceberg. Three years later, a wartime torpedo impales the RMS Lusitania. Both ships take hundreds of passengers and crew to watery graves in the North Atlantic and Irish Sea, respectively. In the ensuing decades, each ship is immortalized on screen and stage, in books and song. (Thank you, Celine Dion.) But in Beneath Dark Waters: The Legacy of the Empress of Ireland Shipwreck, Vancouver-based investigative journalist and podcaster Eve Lazarus does a deep dive into a national maritime tragedy that rivals Titanic and Lusitania for 'big event' status. CANADIAN PRESS FILES The RMS Empress of Ireland, owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, sank in May 1914 in the St. Lawrence River. On May 29, 1914, the RMS Empress of Ireland, owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), was t-boned in dense fog by the SS Storstad, a Norwegian coal ship. Fourteen minutes after impact, the 170-metre long Empress plunged to the bottom of the St. Lawrence River. Only four of its 40 lifeboats were lowered; more than 1,000 passengers and crew drowned. This would have been the liner's 192nd Atlantic crossing. Today, the Empress of Ireland rests 45 metres (130 feet) below the river's surface, and 8.3 kilometres (5 miles) offshore, near Rimouski, Que. Officially discovered in 1964, the wreck has long been an exploratory site for seasoned divers. In 2009, it received National Historic Site status; a modest museum and river buoy mark the worst peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history. So how come so few of us know so little about this story? In her 11th book, Lazarus, a self-professed lover of non-traditional history, explores why such a huge calamity has garnered so little attention, compared to its 'big event' cousins. One reason, she writes, is because the Empress was a basic workhorse, whose main job was moving immigrants and mail between Canada and Europe. The Empress was well-travelled, shipboard luxuries were few and steerage-housed migrants were many. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The liner's manifest supports this premise: there are no Astors or Guggenheims to be found on the Empress like there was on the Titanic. Rather, the Empress' largest contingent among the 840 passengers was 170 Canadian Salvation Army personnel and their families, en route to a Liverpool conference. Also diverting public attention away from the sinking and its post-disaster inquiries was the assassination of the Austria's Duke Ferdinand, which ignited the First World War in July 1914. It all adds up, she says. To label Beneath Dark Waters 'well-researched' is almost a misnomer. The tone of Lazarus' newsy prose may not hook a reader like others in the shipwreck genre (think Erik Larson's Dead Wake or David Grann's The Wager). But Lazarus has gone one better, accessing private journals, photos and public reports, plus countless personal interviews with survivors' families and site visits, to leave no informational stone unturned. It's all packaged and delivered in her succinct writing style and approachable layout. REBECCA BLISSETT PHOTO Eve Lazarus The result? A solid read for lovers of maritime mishaps. Lazarus makes her case as to why the Empress of Ireland story resonates in 2025 and the imprint — the legacy — it has left on our national psyche. 'The Empress sank in just 14 minutes, so not nearly enough time to make a motion picture about it,' she writes. 'Mostly though, it was a Canadian story, and as Canadians, we like to bury the lede.' GC Cabana-Coldwell is a Winnipeg-based freelance writer who loves maritime disasters and tries to never buy a lede. Beneath Dark Waters
Forbes
12-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
Meet ‘Bear 122' — The Indestructible Grizzly Who Survived A Train Collision And Killed His Rivals
Tracked by scientists, feared by rivals and undeterred by trains, Bear 122 may be Banff's most ... More legendary survivor. Here is his story. In Banff National Park, grizzly bears are a fact of life and a symbol of wilderness. But one bear stands alone in both legend and data. Officially, he's Bear 122. Locally, he's known as 'The Boss' — a grizzly who has outlived rivals, shrugged off a collision with a train and fathered a significant slice of Banff's grizzly population. In a place where wilderness and human life regularly collide, The Boss is an icon who stands above everything else. By grizzly standards, The Boss is colossal. Weighing in anywhere between 600 and 700 pounds (270 to 320 kilograms), he dwarfs most of his kind. Unlike many grizzlies who avoid developed corridors, he actively navigates them. During a GPS collaring study, researchers tracked him across a home range of over 2,500 square kilometers — an area that cuts through Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. The Boss has been spotted staking out highways, train tracks and post-wildfire zones flush with berries. He knows where the calories are — and when to find them. Dominance, however, isn't just about size or movement. Genetic sampling has confirmed that Bear 122 is the father of at least five young bears in the region, including cubs from Banff's two most famous females, Bears 64 and 72. The actual count may be higher. And when rivals encroach, he's been anything but forgiving. In 2013, park officials found the remains of a black bear stripped to bones and paws while Bear 122 was still feeding at the site. Grizzlies tend to be opportunistic, but investigators concluded this wasn't scavenging. The black bear likely stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time — and never left. Several years ago, Bear 122 was hit by a train near the Vermilion Lakes. For most bears, that would be a death sentence. But not this one. Not only did he survive, he returned to the tracks. Because they offer what few other places in the Rockies can — easy calories from spilled grain and the occasional animal carcass. His comfort near human infrastructure has allowed researchers to study him more closely than most bears in the park. Over time, his movements revealed something critical — he uses both railways and highways as travel corridors, exploiting their edges for food. To reduce train-related bear deaths, Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway launched a five-year study using GPS collar data, beginning with The Boss himself. It wasn't just to understand him — it was to learn how to prevent others from following his tracks toward danger. Now believed to be in his mid-to-late 20s — ancient by wild grizzly standards — Bear 122 is showing signs of wear. In recent years, he's been spotted with injuries to his face and hind legs, likely from battles with younger males such as Bear 136, also known as 'Split Lip.' These younger bears are now strong enough to contest territory, mates and kills. Grizzly bears sparring at Hallo Bay in Katmai National Park. Male grizzly bears often engage in ... More playful sparring matches (though they can sometimes turn ugly), especially in spring and early summer, to practice fighting skills and establish dominance without serious injury. That said, The Boss isn't backing down entirely. As recently as last week, he was still seen patrolling his usual routes. He remains one of the last grizzlies out of hibernation in winter and the first to emerge in spring — a seasonal alarm clock with a bite. But he's also ventured into new territory. In 2024, he was seen roaming Canmore for the first time, pawing at fruit trees in backyards. His nose, it seems, remembers old rewards. And while he's never shown aggression toward people, this closer proximity has raised concern. Not about his behavior — but about ours. For now, Bear 122 continues to move with purpose across his shrinking wild world, navigating highways, trails and towns with the kind of measured calculation only decades of survival can teach. Whether he's feasting on elk near a tourist trail or dodging trains for spilled barley, he remains a living relic — part monarch, part myth. Stories like those of Bear 122 might sound impressive to some, but terrifying to others. How do you feel when you think of a grizzly like this prowling the forests? Take this science-backed test to see where you stand on the Fear of Animals Scale.
