Calgary Herald letters for May 3

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When I read Premier Daniel Smith and Transportation Minister Devin Dreschen's master plan for passenger rail, my first thought was about money. Former prime minister Ralph Klein studied it for high-speed rail 20 years ago and rejected it as uneconomical.

Even instead of regular speed rail, the cost of construction and operation relative to the number of people using it will not be enough to provide the service at a reasonable cost. That's because the door-to-door transit time to Banff is, say, three hours instead of 1.5 hours by car, plus having a convenient car to get around Banff—think about getting to the Sulfur Mountain Gondola.

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From an economic perspective, utilization relative to capital costs and operating costs will not be sufficient to provide an attractive rate to the low-income, car-less market. Transit times and endpoint inefficiencies eliminate it as a substitute for the high-income, car-owning segment, and they reject it beyond novelty use.

The Prime Minister and the Minister may be enamored with the romance of rail, but those of us working at the operational level of the transport industry know without much detail that the plan will require billions in taxpayer subsidies. being a financial white elephant. That's $9 million of our tax money better spent elsewhere.

Claude S. (Sandy) Stevenson, Calgary

Provincial priorities are off the mark

Another attempt to distract the people of Alberta from pressing issues. The rail link between Calgary and Edmonton is not the most pressing issue for this government.

Healthcare is at a very low level. the last UCP government was responsible for the loss of many urban and rural family doctors, poor intergovernmental relations and yes, I know it's a two way street (federal politicians are equally responsible).

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Let's stop the floating test balls and get to work.

George Gish, Claresholm

City hall savings would be a good start

The housing crisis we have in Canada can be attributed to unlimited immigration. So of course the federal, provincial and municipal governments want to “help” and shift the blame for this crisis. We can all assume who is to blame, but really it is the lack of delivery.

Now the federal government wants to give your municipal tax money to municipalities that cover the entire city. Why not? That would be money for ever-increasing budgets, and hides the fact that municipalities typically limit supply due to ever-increasing regulations for building approvals.

But, hey, it might not be such a bad idea. Blanket zoning is no different from zoning. Houston has no zoning and has 10th the number of city hall planners and gatekeepers.

Calgary can drastically cut staff, solve the city's budget problems, and we win. Is that right?

Rudy Janzen, Calgary

Insignificant problems will not go away

Re: Alberta flu deaths at 15-year high

In December, we learned that Alberta Health Services was aiming to remove references to COVID and the flu in its fall immunization campaign.

Now we're learning the disastrous results of that decision: flu deaths are at their highest in 15 years, after the lowest vaccination rates in a decade.

Heartbreaking.

Arden Vollman, Calgary

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