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Brydon Chakrabarti's avatar

This was a really good read. Thank you for taking the time and effort to write this!

It raises and interesting constitutional debate (as alluded to when talking 'bout 'berta) of the division of powers. As the feds continuously step-in on provincial issues (for better or worse), it's odd that it rail seems to be moving the other way.

I can picture a future where rail dominates intra-provincial travel while air dominates interprovincial travel.

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Johnny Renton's avatar

For rail there actually aren't that many barriers to provincial agencies being started. It is just a matter of political will rather than any constitutional difficulties. The only places where that is an exception is if the service is interprovincial, or runs through a national park. But even interprovincial services can be negotiated so that is not a huge issue as long as both, or multiple, provinces are on board before presenting a proposal.

Ultimately it seems clear how it is all going to pan out with the provinces, regions, and indigenous groups assuming the majority of control over passenger rail and the federal government being a bit player. It will just be chaotic working through everything to get to that point.

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Tim Burford's avatar

Thanks for this, lots of excellent work - but let down by poor grammar and proofreading (but I did enjoy 'brass tax', that was witty...).

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Johnny Renton's avatar

You are not wrong. I should have sat on it for a few more weeks, but for whatever reason I just wanted to see it published and not have to think about it anymore. Lesson learned. And I do plan on going back through these and a few other articles in a few weeks to clean them up a bit more.

I'd also add that I would love to have an editor to run everything through before publishing. But unless a day comes where I can make a few bucks off of what I am writing I don't see myself paying out of pocket to make that happen.

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