The provincial government is working on a growth plan for Northern Ontario. The big question is whether the government is thinking about bridges. The bridge between the Cuban mouse and the American elephant could change the future of Northern Ontario.
Here’s how it will happen. When the push to reduce carbon dioxide emissions gets underway, large luxury sources will be the first to go. Holiday air travel is the biggest single emission for many people. Roughly speaking, a return flight for two from Toronto to the Caribbean gives off as much carbon dioxide as an entire year’s worth of Canadian driving. The water vapour it leaves in the upper atmosphere doubles the short-run impact. For North Americans, air travel is the most rapidly increasing source of carbon emissions.
The campaign against air travel is already beginning. Knowing your fair share of the allowable world emissions is something like 10 per cent of your current emissions makes it hard to justify blowing the entire wad on a flight to the Bahamas, Cancun, or Florida.
Here is where the bridge comes in. Florida will save its tourism industry by finding another way to roll the tourists in. The best alternative is very high-speed electric train. Electric trains have no direct carbon emissions. They are fast and comfortable. The German Maglev has been tested to 500-kilometres (km) per hour. The end of cheap air travel will probably revitalize the eastern U.S. and Florida will be the biggest supporter.
To make the southern extension economically attractive, Florida will look for partners. The island economies of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico depend on air travel. Together they have a population roughly equal to Canada’s. Florida would love a shot at their huge tourist traffic. The partnerships are almost inevitable.
In addition to the tourist trade, other economic gains for the U.S. would be enormous. And because the island chain is constantly threatened by natural disasters, a bridge would be one of the greatest humanitarian projects on the globe.
Is it possible to build the 144-km bridge to Cuba? U.S. architect Eugene Tsui has come up with a revolutionary bridge to span the Strait of Gibraltar. It features a floating island five-km wide and 14-km long connected to the mainland by underwater floating tunnels. The design allows very large ships to pass and leaves marine currents undisturbed. The island would contain the largest wind and water power farm in the world. One hundred and fifty windmills and 80 underwater tidal turbines would generate 12-billion kilowatt hours of electricity. That is enough to power the southern Spanish province of Cadiz and the entire nation of Morocco. Electricity sales alone would pay for the bridge.
The bridge to Cuba would be 10 times as long. It would take 20 floating islands and it would create 14,000 hectares of the most valuable real estate in the world. There are 74 countries in the United Nations with smaller land bases. It would produce enough clean power to drive Cuba and all the southeast U.S. But what does the bridge to Cuba have to do with Minister of Public Infrastructure and Renewal David Caplan and the Northern Ontario Growth Plan? The high-speed trains will reach Montreal and Toronto. Trains run both ways. Caplan should be thinking about what the new transportation system will mean for northern tourism.
The bridge to Cuba isn’t the only bridge he should keep in mind. Canadian National Railway is working with the port of Prince George to handle super post-Panamax cargo vessels. These are vessels far too big to go through the Panama Canal and carrying seven to 12,000 containers each. Prince Rupert is the shortest land sea link from Asia to the U.S. Midwest and the eastern seaboard. One of the partners is Maher Terminals, the largest terminal operator in the port of New York-New Jersey. Maher has a deal with China Ocean Shipping Co. China’s largest shipping conglomerate. The port will channel two-million containers a year into the Canadian National network that runs through Northern Ontario. Northern Ontario could be part of the land bridge to China,
Let’s make sure Mr. Caplan is thinking about bridges as he works on the Northern Ontario Growth Plan.
Dave Robinson is an economist with the Institute for Northern Ontario Research at Laurentian University.drobinson@laurentian.ca
