Advertisements equating car ownership and freedom convinced generations of idiots to get on their knees and suck off the oil barons.

Short distance: by bus now (some old lines have not been electrified).
Long distance: by fly because it's fast and cheap?! (frequency diminished maybe with train). TGV still works well, too.

When I was child I've done Geneva - La Coruna (Spain) a lot of times: it was 2 train days. Challenging, but still fun for landscapes view. :0)

Nevertheless there should be lots of regional rail in the Lower Mainland of BC and Vancouver Island. In the entire southern Ontario and Quebec corridor, and even the Halifax/Moncton/Saint John region and between Calgary and Edmonton.

Personal vehicles burning oil/gas on inefficiently designed roads to serve the few at the cost of the many.

Canada loves monopolies and sucking off corporations.

Doug want more highway, Doug no like train.

Ottawa-Sudbury (CP) et Ottawa-Capreol (CN) are mostly gone. A short line has kept Sudbury-NorthBay-Mattawa but tracks pulled between Mattawa and Ottawa. CN is all gone.
Senneterre to Cochane no longer connects. But Val d'Or to Kirkland Falls still exists (was no passenger soervice).

The Netherlands (42k km^2) is almost half the area of New Brunswick (73k km^2).

why did we choose poverty

There were so many times that the train either had to slow to a crawl on uneven tracks, or heed right of way for cargo. Our train out was cancelled at the last minute, and the train back took about 50% longer than advertised.