Pret a Porter

Good Bertonian Canadians you all are, I’m sure you followed with interest the three part Canwest series on high speed rail called The Next Spike.

If you’ve been hanging around here much, you will know that nothing divides the Maclean’s national bureau like the question of high speed rail. Wells is pro, Coyne is most certainly con.

I used to like trains, until I started riding Via regularly. Honestly, there’s nothing to cure you of any residual National Dream romanticism about railways than trying to organize your life around Via Standard Time, which is to timekeeping what bistromath is to... math.

Anyway, here’s what I put to Paul and Andrew: Don’t we already have high speed rail, and it’s called Porter Air?

I’m serious. Porter is the greatest thing ever. It’s faster than the HS rail would be; it’s certainly cheaper than rail would be, and when it comes to flying in to Ottawa and Toronto, the airports are just as close as the train stations. To boot, Porter is totally sexy, the branding and service is top notch, and it is 100% guaranteed to be superior in every way to whatever Crownish corporation arises to serve us bad food from surly staff at high speed.

So here’s today’s debate: Be it resolved that Porter Air has made the question of high speed rail obsolete.

NB: I think we already know AC’s answer.