The latest news has the Bank of Japan acting as the gov't. They are funding huge grandiose projects such as fancy sewers and maglev trains. This is what MITI has done for years. All governments want fancy projects that give them good photo ops.
As a country, you can have the best infrastructure and still be stagnant. Sure, if the roads crumble and the sewers back up, this can put a damper on the economy, but you need to do something else. There's no hope for Japan because of their racist isolation, but Canada can do something better.
The best money I ever saw spent was in expanding Canada's seismic monitoring. This immediately put our companies in the forefront of installing seismic monitoring all over the world. That was good stuff. 30 years ago we were putting hydro dams everywhere, and that, again, translated into big money for our consultants.
I did want Toronto to turn into Palo Alto, but that's hopeless because of our tight-fisted banks. There's no use in improving Toronto transit, that just puts up house prices. I'm still hoping for a nuclear research area in Port Hope, but those people are crazy. I can't really think of anything else. :)
--cars are hopeless
--we're in the worse spot in the world for solar and wind
--although I like the 407 extension for my cottage, it doesn't do anything
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