ARG1
Senior Member
Ah yes, Winter, because rail lines totally don't run into the same problem during the winter affecting their reliability and requiring closures. That definitely does not happen. This is before we mention the fact that these towns aren't exactly 15m communities, in many cases you're still going to have to drive down to the train station, and let me tell you those small local regional roads are way less likely to be snow maintained than the big provincial highways.One word...
Winter.
Every winter, a snowstorm happens and highways get closed. Most of the time, the rail can still do track speed. Ironicaly, we have been doing a poorer and poorer job of snow removal in the last few decades. Maybe if plows were out more and they had more plows, the highways could stay open.
Uh... ok excuse me whilst I completely ignore this one.For the highway 60 corridor... I would suggest an LRT running between all the trailheads and campsites. Make it free for all who are camping. You would open the parking lots open up more. All of this is beyond a fantasy and I know it. Had the rail of the OAPS not been torn upinthe 1860s, it would be more of a realistic fantasy.
Oh yes, tax cuts were invented in the 1980s, and not totally something thats been a core part of our political system for several centuries.I am not suggesting raising taxes. Well, I guess I kind of am.Had taxes been left as is since back in the 1980s, we could pay for what we have. It wasn't until the politicians began promising tax cuts that we started to go into, and stay into deficits.Now a days, they not only promise to cut your taxes, but also to increase spending. that increased spending money has to come from somewhere.
This is before we bring up how tax rates are a cyclical thing, and to suggest that the 1980s was somehow the peak of taxes is a bit silly. A quick google search shows that in 2001 the average family tax rate was higher than in the 1980s, and only went down in the late 2000s thanks to the Harper Administration.
So no, I don't think we'd be able to pay for a HIGHWAY 60 LRT if we had 1980s tax rates. Even if your assumption was correct and taxes were way higher back then, I'm fairly confident when I say we'd be spending it on literally anything else.