QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Emergency Management and Community Resilience
High-Speed Rail
October 7, 2026
Late last month, you met with Premier Danielle Smith to announce plans to move toward developing high-speed rail between Edmonton and Calgary. The province has gone so far as to say that they want to have a request for proposal, or RFP, awarded by the spring of 2027.
I want to better understand the federal government’s role in this. You’re going to fast-track it to the Major Projects Office, but is the federal government going to commit funds to the building of this? What exactly is the role of your government in getting this built?
Thank you for the question, senator.
At this point in time, based on what I have been advised by the premier, there are companies that want to invest in this project. She indicated in our announcement that there would be no requirement for provincial or federal funding. She indicated that a number of corporations had stepped up to the plate and would be responding to the RFP. At least at this present time, that’s what the status is.
I’m curious about this because it would certainly be simpler and faster to build a high-speed rail line between Edmonton and Calgary. They don’t have the population nodes that Toronto and Montreal do, yet the federal government seems to be quite generously supporting the development of high-speed rail in Eastern Central Canada but not for the potential Alberta link, which could be a much faster build with huge economic and environmental upsides.
Is the federal government willing to do more than direct this to the Major Projects Office?
At the present time, our role is to work together with Alberta in order to advance that project. As I’ve indicated, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens in terms of responses received to the RFP.
At the present time, based on what the premier has said, it certainly appears as though there will be private money invested in that high-speed rail line, and that’s the situation at this point in time.
Thank you.
