A group of leading tech CEOs, including Shopify’s Tobi Lütke and AGT Food and Ingredients Murad Al-Katib, privately suggested the federal government explore building a hyperloop between Toronto and Montreal and another one between Edmonton and Calgary.

The projects would be funded by the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB), according to the recommendation made by the CEOs, who were advising Ottawa in their roles as chairs of Economic Strategy Tables convened by the government to come up with innovative ideas on how to grow the Canadian economy.

The CEOs’ recommendations are part of a report prepared for a March 2018 meeting, which The Logic obtained via an access-to-information request. The full group of chairs includes Karimah Es Sabar, CEO of Quark Venture; Charles Deguire, CEO of Kinova Robotics; Audrey Mascarenhas, CEO of Questor Technology; and Lorraine Mitchelmore, who was the CEO of Field Upgrading at the time, and is now director of Trans Mountain Corporation. 

Hyperloop technology is still being developed, with its biggest proponents projecting the first commercial lines to be ready by 2022 at the earliest. The technology, first proposed in a 2013 white paper by Elon Musk, is designed to transport cargo and passengers through low-pressure tubes at speeds of over 1,000 kilometres per hour. 

The CEOs advised the CIB to co-invest with the private sector “in innovative public transportation infrastructure, for example TransPod’s proposed Calgary-Edmonton and Toronto-Montreal hyperloop trains.” The projects, which were billed as a “signature idea” by the CEOs, would, according to them, ease congestion, boosting productivity in urban areas.

The Logic reached out to the chairs of the six Economic Strategy Table. Five did not reply; Al-Katib declined to comment.

Sebastien Gendron, CEO of Toronto-based hyperloop company TransPod, said he doesn’t think the CIB will fund hyperloop projects any time soon. 

At a transportation forum held by the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal in May, Gendron asked François Lecavalier, the CIB’s head of project development, if the bank would invest in the technology. “[He] told me that infrastructure and innovation don’t go well together,” said Gendron. “They’re looking at mature technology … The infrastructure bank told me that if we reach that point, they will be interested to be involved.”

The CIB did not directly respond to The Logic’s question of whether it is considering funding the hyperloop projects. “Investing in feasibility studies on new technology or its development is not part of the CIB’s mandate,” said Félix Corriveau, senior corporate communications director at the CIB. 

However, the federal government has already launched a feasibility study. One year after the CEOs’ recommendation, Transport Canada posted a request for proposals from transportation consultants to be submitted between March and May to study whether hyperloop is safe and cost-effective relative to other high-speed rail transit or other magnetic levitation technologies. The winning bidder, which has not been announced, will deliver its report by Jan. 31, 2020. 

The CIB is tasked with investing $35 billion from Ottawa on revenue-generating infrastructure projects while also securing private investments for them. Since it was formed in 2017, the bank has invested in three projects, including $1.28 billion for a light rail system in Quebec, financed and led by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec; up to $2 billion for Metrolinx’s Go Transit expansion in Ontario; and $71 million to update Via Rail infrastructure in Ontario and Quebec. 

Transport Canada did not answer whether its request for proposals was related to the CEOs’ advice to the CIB to fund hyperloop. “The preliminary feasibility study of the economical, safety, and efficiency considerations of hyperloop is part of ongoing work to investigate how new technologies can contribute to Canada’s transportation system,” said Frédérica Dupuis, senior media relations adviser. 

TransPod’s Gendron has been critical of Canada’s approach to the technology. In August 2018, he told The Logic the federal government had “been no support at all” around seeking R&D funding and political support at home. In an interview this July, he said Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) had rejected his application for R&D funding from the department’s Strategic Innovation Fund. The Quebec government rejected his request to lease the company land to build a test track between Toronto and Montreal, and the Ontario government, while it did not outright reject his request, has not made any promises to lease land to Transpod. And, while the previous Alberta government had been considering leasing a 10-kilometre stretch of land to the company to test its technology, the province’s new Conservative leadership has not expressed the same interest, said Gendron.

Gendron is aiming for the first TransPod hyperloop to operate in Canada by 2030, if federal and provincial governments greenlight the technology.

Other countries have shown more interest in the technology. In April, the U.S. Department of Transportation formed the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology Council to help companies building technology like hyperloop and self-driving cars overcome regulatory hurdles. And the European Commission is launching a program in December to work with public and private stakeholders to create regulatory standards in the industry and share R&D costs.

And, while TransPod awaits approval to test its hyperloop in Canada, it has started building a three-kilometre track in France. In February, the company launched a subsidiary, TransPod France, to do R&D in the country. 

While the CIB has not committed to funding hyperloop infrastructure in the near future, Gendron said the CEOs’ recommendation to the agency is encouraging. “For me, it’s kind of confirming that … the government of Canada is looking at hyperloop more and more.” 

The Economic Strategy Tables released their final report in September 2018; it did not recommend hyperloop funding in its public document.