EU is growing so nicely right! 
[DE, CH, NL, AT & the Nordics are doing fine.  Huge exporters, too.]
.
"I'm fairly confident that intensive public transit will have a limited effect on the economy outside Toronto."
.
[Wilfully blind to economic facts?]
[85% of Canada is urban.  1/3 in Golden Horseshoe + 1/8 Montreal + 1/12 Vancouver + 1/8 in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton = 2/3 of Canada.  All have congestion. Services are 70% of GDP = Huge.]
.
It will have no effect on ... motor vehicle production and machinery production etc. 
[You must be dreaming.  Where do you think those products are built, and by whom? Service exports, btw, roughly equal O&G exports.  Congestion affects at least 70% of our economy.  Oil & gas are 3%.]
.
[Congestion doesn't affect imports and exports? Try counting trucks crossing at Windsor or Niagara, or stuck in traffic on the 401.
.
Congestion is, at least, a 15% tax on all economic activity in Canada.
.
It is Canada's largest self-inflicted economic problem.]