The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that federal Transportation Minister Steven MacKinnon had proposed changing the route for the Toronto-to-Quebec City high-speed rail to include a stop in Kingston, saying it would only add a few minutes to the journey. The Globe's Tony Keller writes that Martin Imbleau, the chief executive officer of crown corporation Alto, echoed his political master: "It may add a couple of minutes. It would be marginal." The cost of high-speed rail is still uncertain. Alto estimates it could be between $60-billion and $90-billion, but warns this is only for planning and not a project budget. Mr. Keller says Ottawa needs to obsess over costs. Failing to do so is how a project goes from profitability to unprofitability, and its backers go from solvency to insolvency. Even with the most competent project management, Canadian high-speed rail will almost certainly need extremely large public subsidies to build, and a continuing subsidy to operate. If we want to deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number of people, Mr. Keller suggests urban public transit might be a better place to invest $90-billion. He says the economic returns would be higher. Ditto the political returns.