[War] Canada: Big Ideas

Wed Apr 9 00:33:06 EDT 2008

'Big Ideas'
March.14/2014
Prime Minister James McColl
Canada

-------------

The Harper government had never lived up to its promises in general, and
that included their promise of developing Arctic and general
infrastructure.  The new McColl liberals were determined to rectify that.
The PM had scheduled a meeting in one of the conference rooms in the Centre
Block of the Finance, Public Works, Defense, Transportation, and Northern
Economic Development Ministers, as well as the respective heads of the
Defense Staff.

Everyone sat down at their seats, tea was served, and they all got down to
business.  McColl began.

"Good to see you all again." Nods around the table.  "To go hand in hand
with our CAF Modernization Initiative that we announced two days ago, the
time has come to begin developing our Arctic.  There will be, of course,
environmental groups and the other usual detractors, but I think this
project will go over well with Canadians.  People see the need to do this,
not only because of the security benefits for the far north, but also
because of the social and economic benefits.  The last century has seen the
southern part of the country develop exponentially, with the relative
exclusion of the north.  This is why we created the new position of Northern
Economic Development as a part of the cabinet."

"Miss Dion, if you would please take it away."  McColl smiled.

"Sure thing.  Part of the reason our northern territories are so sparsely
populated is because of the climate, but the other part is that no real
effort has been put into development.  That is why I am here.  The reason
why the military brass are here," and she said that with an amicable glance
to Girard, "is because military and security infrastructure is often the
primary reason development begins in a region.  We have a plan that will be
implemented over the next few years that will effectively change the far
north."

"First of all, the new naval acquisitions are going to need a base.  We want
to build a naval station in either Iqualuit or to the north of Inuvik.  We
like these two locations because Iqualuit has an airport and a small harbour
already, while Inuvik has the Dempster Highway.  It wouldn't take much to
continue the highway north from the town.  We want to make sure that any
military presence we establish be accompanied by substantial economic
benefits for the locals."

"We also want to create an air force and infantry base by expanding our
current complex in Yellowknife, which we would rename CFB Yellowknife, from
the current CFNA Yellowknife.  There is also a proposal to create a Northern
Warfare Training Centre, similar to what we have at Gagetown, but for
northern and winter warfare.  It would be used by all the services.  Girard
has told me the armed forces would like to base 3,000 regular troops with
room for volunteer reservists there year round, with rotations occurring
every four months."

"To supply this, we would like to build a paved highway with special
engineering practices we've developed for the permafrost.  Rail would also
work, and preferably we would do both.  There is an existing line from
Edmonton north to Hay River, and we'd like to extend that around the lake to
Yellowknife.  There is also an existing line to Fort McMurray, which is
where the oil sands developments are (taking place).  That could be extended
north to Fort Chipewyan, Fort Smith, and then on to Hay River.  That would
bring a lot of economic activity into the region, revitalize its economy,
and expand its population.  Another rail line extends north through the BC
Cariboo region to Fort Nelson, we think extending that line into Whitehorse
would do a world of good for the Yukon.  As well as the construction, the
influx of people and goods would do a lot to make Whitehorse and Yellowknife
major northern centres, which would thus encourage development of the
territories as a whole."

"Thanks, Louise.  Now, there is another issue I'd like to discuss with you
all.  That is a national high-speed rail network.  Any thoughts?"

It turned out they were all highly in favour, although wary of the
potentially prohibitive costs.  Public Works Minister Perrin Gassou chose
that moment to chuckle.  "It will probably cost more than $100 billion to
connect all the major cities.  That being said, I think it's an excellent
idea.  We should be encouraging rail travel to get more vehicles off the
roads.  We should learn from Europe; they have always encouraged mass
transit and rail travel over vehicles.  I think we would do well to learn
from that and get people taking the train more.  We would start with the
Edmonton-Calgary corridor and the
Windsor-London-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City route.  Once we get those
running smoothly, we could put routes extending from Calgary to Vancouver
and Regina, and from Edmonton to Saskatoon and then on to Regina.  Once
that's complete we would connect the west and east via Winnipeg and put a
line through New Brunswick to Halifax."

"Whoa, now that's ambition if I've ever heard it.  What about Victoria and
St. John's?  I know they're on islands, but eventually we will need to
connect them to rest of the country.  I remember there was a proposal to
build the CPR through the BC interior, down the Bute Inlet and then across
the various Upper Gulf Islands and then down the east coast of Vancouver
Island to Victoria.  That would have ensured Victoria's position as a major
Pacific port, but Vancouver was chosen because it was cheaper.  We could win
a lot of votes on the west coast.  Victoria is not an insignificant city
anymore, there are 10 ridings on Vancouver Island now, and the population is
growing rapidly.  And we now have the technology to make that a feasible
plan.  Any ideas for St. John's?"  Transportation Minister Sidney Crompton
was MP for Victoria-Centre, so he had a lot to gain from that idea, but it
was still a good one nonetheless.

"Hmmm, good call on that, though I'm assuming you were talking conventional
rail for the Victoria route?  I don't think even now we could put a high
speed route through there.  Getting it to Vancouver will be bad enough."
McColl had that look so many politicians get when they conspire for votes.

"Yea, sorry I didn't clarify that.  The route would have to connect via the
BC interior, probably through Prince George."  "No problem."  The PM looked
disappointed at what he was thinking, and then decided to voice his
thoughts.  "Honestly, I don't see how St.John's could be connected to the
mainland.  The Straight of Belle Isle is just too wide, not to mention the
sea-ice, and extreme currents."

"At any rate, could VIA Rail run such an operation?  We would do everything
through them, so we would need to make sure that they are up to par for it.
However, I am optimistic.  The Commons will be happy about this, as all the
provinces stand to gain except for PEI and Newfoundland, which are not so
important anymore.  Hopefully the provinces will be happy about this too.
We should encourage all of them to work together on this project.  On that
note, we need a name, and looking at this dossier here, it seems the budget
would be $96 billion spread over 15 years starting next fiscal year.  Can we
make that work Eric?"

The Finance Minister had been pretty quiet throughout, but he piped up now.
"Yes we can, I've made room by shuffling a number of things to side; we will
be able to pay for this at the rate of $6.4billion per year with no
problems.  Just don't ask for any new major spending initiatives this year,
or I might bludgeon you."  He grinned.

Everyone had a good laugh, and then Crompton said, "I've just thought of a
good name, the 'High Speed Rail and Infrastructure Initiative'.

"Haha, so be it, the HSRII, not bad, could be better.  I propose for the
northern project that we call it the 'Northern Economic Development
Initiative'.  Heh, needee.  The pundits will start thinking that all that
ever comes out of Ottawa anymore are initiatives and equalization payments."
More good laughs courtesy of Gassou.

"Great work everyone.  Let's start drafting the proposals, enlisting
provincial help and getting things rolling.  We should have no problem with
the Spring Budget this year, seeing as we have a solid majority."

All of them filed out except for Crompton.  He turned to McColl, "The
Americans will want in on the project.  I bet you $50 they want to connect
our system to theirs by the time of the next federal election."

James grinned, "Done Sidney, you've got yourself a bet.  We'll deal with
them when the time comes."  They shook hands.

--------------------------

Actions:

1: get a major conventional rail expansion underway
2: start rolling out the plans and dough for the national high speed train
network
3: distract voters from the major provinces with the infrastructure goodies,
then they won't be as focused on the military purchases.  after all, when
the economy is rolling, and times are good, who cares?
4: seal a wager :D
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