MONTREAL — The Senate Opposition leader says it was "irresponsible" for a federal Crown corporation to spend $330,000 on a rebranding exercise for a high-speed rail line.
During Senate question period on Wednesday, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos criticized the decision to pay an outside marketing firm to help rebrand a Via Rail subsidiary with a new name and logo.
"This kind of irresponsible spending without any accountability or economic logic illustrates the waste that has characterized the Liberal government," he said.
Housakos was referring to Alto, a Crown corporation responsible for building a high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the corporation changed its name from VIA-HFR and pivoted to high-speed rail because of "widespread disinterest" in a high-frequency rail project announced in 2021.
The corporation hired a Quebec-based firm, Cossette Communication Inc., to develop a marketing plan that would reflect its new focus on speed. Invoices from the firm show it billed more than $330,000 between October 2023 and January 2025.
As part of its rebranding, the VIA Rail subsidiary changed its name from VIA-HFR to Alto, which was intended to evoke higher speeds and a higher level of service.
Sen. Marc Gold, the government's representative in the Senate, said Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to focus on "major projects that have a national interest that will bind this country together."
But he also said Carney is very serious about "fiscal responsibility."
In February, former prime minister Justin Trudeau officially announced the high-speed rail project, which would take passengers from Montreal to Toronto in just three hours.
The government’s initial plan for the passenger rail system, announced in July 2021, envisioned a high-frequency rail line connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. The network would have cut travel times for passengers, but the trains would be too slow to be considered high-speed.
The documents cite public opinion research showing that people preferred a higher-speed rail line, despite the added cost.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press
