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Day: November 27, 2019

Critics complain the Alberta government is living in the past, dependent on pipelines to move its old school non-renewable resources to market.

It is true Alberta loves pipelines.  The province really gets pipelines a safe economical method of moving commodities from point A to point B.

So how much of a win-win would it be if the province embraced a futuristic type of pipeline moving not oil and gas, but people?

Canadian company TransPod wants to build a hyperloop magnetic tube link, which looks amazingly like a giant pipeline, to whisk commuters, and some specialized cargo, between Edmonton and Calgary at 1,000 kilometres per hour.

Currently it takes about three hours on a good-weather day to drive the straight-shot Highway 2 from city to city.  There are also at least 20 short-haul carbon-spewing one-way flights a day as well.  The TransPod folks say they will be able to trim the trip to 30 minutes with their low-carbon-emission technology zipping passenger filled pods through low-pressure tubes.

The company website projects that pods will hold 27 to 40 passengers and depart every one to two minutes.

TransPod has been flirting with the Alberta government for a few years on this project.  The firm is looking for a test site in the province.  Hyperloop technology isn't ready for real people in real pods, but companies around the globe are actively working on various versions of this new mode of transportation, which proponents agree will likely be in practical operation by 2030.

The Alberta NDP government considered providing land for a test site, but their requirement that the company dismantle the test track after completing a pilot was a no-go for TransPod which wanted to use any test facility as part of a finished project.

The company has approached the UCP government, but is having trouble getting traction, says TransPod CEO Sebastien Gendron.  He adds that when he approached Premier Jason Kenney at an electioneering stop in Ontario during the recent federal campaign, Kenney rolled his eyes.

Perhaps that was just a fluke reaction from an overtaxed campaigner.  Indeed, an Alberta Transportation spokesperson has said they look forward to reviewing a proposal from TransPod when they receive it.

Alberta has always been a bit averse to charging ahead on transportation options beyond the most conventional.  Newcomers to the province are usually gobsmacked that there is no passenger rail line between Calgary and Edmonton.  For more than a decade provincial governments have commissioned regular report on the potential for high speed rail between the cities but nothing has come from the explorations.

In 2011, Premier Alison Redford trumpeted her interest in a high speed rail link.  "Such an initiative could unite the province and send a message to Canada and the world about Alberta's progress."

The message apparently got lost along the way, along with progress on what appeared to be a sensible idea.

The hyperloop venture may appear further out there than high speed rail, but it has some special virtues at this juncture in the province's history.

The company is not looking for government money for its test line, just a letter of support to take to private investors in order to drum up $100 to $200 million.  If a full-scale $6 to $8 billion project becomes feasible there would be oodles of construction jobs.  And it would represent a big commitment to transitioning the province out of its current high emission lifestyle.

Other jurisdictions are hot to jump on the hyperlink bandwagon.  The state of Missouri is actively exploring a test line with a coalition of Virgin Hyperloop, the University of Missouri and an engineering firm.  West Virginia is also working with Virgin Hyperloop One.  Other companies and other countries, including India, the Netherlands and Spain are all actively exploring the technology which is particularly targeted at competing with the short haul flight market.

Maybe it's lucky the province didn't opt for the high speed rail option.  Now it can jump right to the next level of technology.

The Calgary Herald imbedded a survey in its story on the hyperloop asking if it was a good idea.  About 4,500 readers, 84 percent of the respondents, said yes.  That's not surprising given the story was posted in late November, the beginning of the province's brutal winter driving season.  Thirty minutes in a space-age pod insulated from the elements versus three plus hours on icy roads would seem a bit of a no brainer.

Alberta could seize this initiative and start dispelling its reputation for trying to turn the clock back.

Photo Credit: Calgary Herald

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.

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There was a funny headline in Loonie Politics that suggested the new "Associate Minister of Finance for Middle-Class Prosperity" was akin to Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks."

First, yes, I agree.

Second, let's extend the Python references to Mr Andrew Scheer's hold on the Conservative Party leadership.

Andrew Scheer's leadership has passed on.  It is no more.  It has ceased to be.  It expired and has gone to meet its maker.  It's a stiff.  It's metabolical processes are now history.  It's off the twig.  It's kicked the bucket.  It's shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.

This is an ex-party leader.

The question is just whether he knows it.

As John Ibbitson noted, "Leading the fractious Conservative Party of Canada is a challenge for any leader.  Andrew Scheer does not appear up to that challenge."

It started with Red Tories objecting to Scheer's torturous inability to support same-sex marriage.  His bizarre legalese and hairsplitting, coupled with his homophobic and ableist comments in that video from his early days as an MP, which he did not apologise for, all contributed to the sense the man was not fully on board with the modern world.

But, in recent days, it has grown to include the social conservatives who won him the leadership in the first place, and who he has contorted himself to try to maintain the support of in recent months.

The Globe and Mail reported Scheer's message on a woman's right to choose and equal marriage, in the eyes of his erstwhile so-con supporters, was "confusing and garbled" — which is both true, and reason enough why he was so unpalatable to, in particular, Ontario voters for whom such socially conservative matters are repugnant.

In other words, Scheer made neither side of these debates happy.

I've been harsh on Scheer for months in my commentary, for the simple reason I do not think he is a good leader of his party, much less of this country.  I did not and do not think he'd be a good prime minister.

He's thoroughly lacklustre.  For those who said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was under-qualified, at least you could say the man had pizzazz, a sense of self and a clear, compelling reason for running.  Scheer had none of those things.  He did not try to have any of those things.

His goal was to be elected because he was not Justin Trudeau.  It did not work.  A transactional politician with no clear raison d'être is a hero if he wins; he's a dud if he loses.

So the Tory Party faces a long, hard march to their convention next spring.  But they have a leader who is already expired.  The question is whether Andrew Scheer knows it, admits it and acts on it.

The worse possible outcome for the Conservatives — and the best possible outcome for Liberals — is if Scheer chooses to hang on for dear life and wins a narrow, pyrrhic victory, and then refuses to "pull a Joe Clark".

A Conservative Party with a lacklustre leader with a weak hold on his party is a gift from the gods for the governing party.

And Andrew Scheer has no one to blame but himself — not the two senior staff he defenestrated this week, not his strategist or pollster, not even the people of Ontario.  He failed to connect with Canadians.  He failed to define why he should have won.

He was never really much in the running, he just got a bit lucky with the Liberal leader stepping on racks during the writ.

So, as Tory strategist Dennis Matthews argued, "Let me simplify all the commentary around Andrew Scheer's leadership: do members — in their hearts and minds — believe Mr. Scheer can win a majority in the 2020s?  He has to convince, they have to believe."

Well, let me answer that question with reference again to Monty Python: I'll tell you what's wrong with Scheer — he's dead, that's what's wrong with him.

Photo Credit: CBC News

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.

jonathan-scott

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