REM’s Escalating Costs

The following is a translation from the Quebec Newspaper La Presse which seems to to do far more investigative reporting on transit than our local fish-wrap. What is important to remember the Caisse du Depot is also a concessionaire with the Canada Lin e P-3, which I have now been told that the SNC Lavalin/Caisse […]

A Letter To The CBC

I sent this to the CBC in Montreal, which they will take no action. The CBC’s accuracy on transit projects or just reporting on transit issues has greatly declined over the past decade and much of what they report has not been researched. Please deliver to the CBC News Department;  * I find that the […]

The Caisse Du Depot Bails From REM East

Montreal’s politicians listen to the public far more about transit than Metro Vancouver’s politico’s. The public were growing very disenchanted having an elevated railway go through Montreal’s downtown and maybe would take such disenchantment to the next civic election. Well, the civic government has pulled the carpet from under the Caisse and in response, they […]

Montreal’s REM Debacle

Today, building light metro is a grift simply because for about the same amount of money one could build a heavy rail metro with four times the capacity or build a lot more light rail, with, you guessed it, having more capacity! Toronto’s Transit commission’s Accelerated Rapid Transit Study (ARTS) found that the then new […]

REM

The following article also aptly describes metro Vancouver’s transit planning, which is mostly dictated by the premier’s office and camouflaged in layers of bureaucracy. The result is very expensive, politically inspired rapid transit lines that soon become financial anchors. As a final note, the then Gordon Campbell BC government rejected LRT from the start, dropping […]

Public Transit In Canada – All About Profits and Politics

Just like the Canada Line, politics and profits; REM is the Canada line on steroids. Just like transit planning in Metro Vancouver, it isn’t about providing better transit options, it is all about profit and politics, rezoning, demovictions, and building high rent towers and high rise condos. And like Vancouver, Montreal calls it’s light metro […]

Meet The Canada Line’s French Cousin, REM.

REM is a clone of the Canada Line, a faux P-3 project designed to benifit land speculators, land developers and of course the financiers, which in this case is the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, or CDPQ . The local rail advocates are now fully understanding at how REM will not provide better […]