Idk about Canada, but what you usually see in the UK is that tens of millions of pounds get spend before a single brick is laid.

Money disappears into consultations, reviews, studies and reports of dubious value, the paperwork keeps piling up and it takes years before the public sees anything tangible, if the project ever gets built at all.

Someone somewhere is getting very rich off this, but it ain't the taxpayer.

Tens of millions?

£1.2 BILLION before a single spade in the ground for the lower thames crossing

https://www.ft.com/content/917d4b7f-318e-46fe-ba44-664551ebc...

The planning document alone was 350,000 pages long, and cost about £1000 per page (£350m).

What western countries lack is someone empowered enough to just say "fuck it, make it happen", and be held accountable once it's built.

How did France and Spain build their high speed rail?

I would guess less institutionalised corruption and less weight put on planning objections.