You do realize Spain is part of the European Union which has a transfer payment policy for improving infrastructure in countries that do not meet the minimal standards? Political will is nice however, billions in German Euros earmarked for infrastructure improvements is much nicer. I think even Canadians could get on board with that.
The example was mostly to show that democracies - whatever their particular position - can execute infrastructure build-outs as well as autocracies, as Balenciaga was complaining about our slow development here by blaming it on the democratic process.
Yes Spain received assistance, but its government also committed to the project as a nation-building exercise. Rail travel is part of Spanish culture, and the initiative was well-received.
Toronto has the financial capacity to build more subways: we could simply issue bonds (Toronto bonds and Federal bonds at all time lows, which indicate a nice return on borrowed capital) or implement user-based taxes - such as tolls, a sales tax, or demand-driven policies like parking or bringing back vehicle registration fees, or increasing residential rates in Toronto that are comparatively low (and yes I am a "taxpayer") - in order to build out. That, coupled with federal and provincial monies would put us nicely in the right direction. I know the province especially is in a deficit, but what can we do to get out of it but go forward with nation-building infrastructure that increases growth and efficiency? We don't need Germany, just ourselves.
The reason we don't is that the federal government simply doesn't care about urban Canada (whether Liberal or Conservative, the former because it was the base and they always had to fight over the suburbs; the latter because their base is so entrenched and they fight over the suburbs as well - which bizarrely view transit expansion as a negative). Ontario and Canada suck dollars out of Toronto (the GTA plus Hamilton represent about 25% of GDP but you would hardly know it from government investment levels).
Why is this? Most people seem to think that driving is always the best way to go and that building public transit or rail is a waste of money. Suburbanites like to pretend that their huge houses are economic and that those who live in a different situation or who chose not to drive are less deserving of investment - while most don't want to give up cars as a method of travel, much less pay their fair share to build the infrastructure that keeps us moving. Why are roads always supposed to be free? They are very expensive in reality, and we chose to build those instead, in addition to the sewer, power and other infrastructure that supports low density neighbourhoods and is subsidized. The fact is it is political, and public opinion in the crucial suburbs skews agains rail and subways at this time.
So, I would certainly contend that we have the resources to build, we simply don't. Not only that, we would gain GDP in efficiency and spin-offs. Political will is all that is holding us back.
However, the only high speed we could do from an economic perspective is Toronto-Montreal/Quebec, with US connections to Detroit/NYC if the US would build the high speed lines. I am not saying we can build something from Vancouver to Calgary or some nonsense. Spain ran into economic reality and had to pull back their overly ambitious plans.
But we could built the economically viable rail lines - and if we don't move on subways in Toronto soon, something is really going to reach an inflection point, if it already hasn't.