A recent study produced by the governments of Quebec, Ontario, and Canada on the subject of high-speed rail between Windsor and Quebec City showed that the incremental passenger count that would result would actually not come from cars taken off the road but from passengers taken out of the sky. In other words, you'd be reducing air passenger counts by increasing passenger counts on your trains rather than reducing the number of vehicles travelling on our highways between Windsor and Quebec City.
The airline system is not subsidized, although I know that Mr. Christopherson would like to nationalize it again. In fact, it is a net contributor to the Government of Canada. The airlines pay corporate taxes and fuel taxes. They indirectly pay airport rents, and the passenger pays for the cost of security as part of the fees that you pay to get on board an airline.
Why should taxpayers be subsidizing a money-losing mode of transportation at the expense of a money-generating mode of transportation?