The Ontario, Canada, Ministry of Transportation on Oct. 30, 2015 appointed former Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette as its special advisor to develop high-speed rail options on the Toronto-London-Windsor corridor.
Collenette will advise on the preliminary business case and potential financing models for the project, examine international HSR best practices in high-speed rail, and act as liaison with ministers and other key stakeholders in the public and private sector.
A fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Collenette was Canada’s Transport Minister between 1997 and 2003. He was a Canadian politician from 1974 to 2004, and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. He served as a Member of the Canadian House of Commons for more than 20 years, and served in the Cabinet under three Prime Ministers—Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Jean Chrétien—in several capacities: Minister of State-Multiculturalism (1983–84); Minister of National Defense (1993–96); Minister of Veterans Affairs (1993–96); Minister of Transport (1997–2003); and Minister of Crown Corporations (2002–03). Since his retirement from Parliament in 2004, Collenette, 69, has worked as a consultant in the defense and transportation industries.