That is unfortunate. The corridor is far less built up with sprawl than the Northeast Corridor, which should mean it'd be possible to build a sufficienly straight right of way for relatively little cost. Canada even already has a manufacturer of high speed trains!
VIA's position on full-fat HSR is that it would cost 2.5-3 x as much as their 110 mph proposal, while only attracting 1.4 x more ridership.
It's worth noting that the existing diesel-powered, 90-95 mph tops Montreal-Toronto expresses run faster average speeds than any Amtrak route save New York - Washington Acela Express trains. The problems are that there's not enough track capacity to do that frequently and reliably, and that it takes just somewhat too long to be practically competitive over the distance. The old Turbos ran the route in just under four hours.
Post modernization, Montreal-Toronto trains would be the fastest average speed trains in the Western Hemisphere without breaking 110
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