OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for borrowing billions more for high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City. 

“Trudeau is only prime minister for another couple of weeks so he shouldn’t be borrowing billions more for a new taxpayer boondoggle,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Somebody needs to take the credit card away from the lame duck prime minister before he puts Canada further into debt.”

The Trudeau government announced a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City. 

“The co-development phase of the project represents $3.9 billion over six years,” according to the government’s news release. “This is in addition to the $371.8 million that was provided in Budget 2024.”

The government estimated a railway line between Toronto and Quebec City would cost up to $12 billion in 2021.

The federal government ran a $62-billion deficit last year. That’s $20 billion higher than its promised fiscal guardrail. 

The Trudeau government doubled the debt in less than a decade. Interest charges on the debt are costing taxpayers $54 billion this year. For context, the government is wasting more money on debt interest charges than it sends to the provinces in health-care transfers. 

The government already owns a railway company, VIA Rail. The government gave VIA Rail $1.8 billion over the last five years to cover its operating losses, according to the Crown corporation’s annual report. 

“The government is running huge deficits and spending hundreds of millions of dollars bailing out its current train company, the last thing taxpayers need is to pay higher debt interest charges for Trudeau’s new train boondoggle,” Terrazzano said. “The government is broke, Canadians can’t afford higher taxes and Trudeau shouldn’t be borrowing billions more while he’s walking out the door.”