The opposition to the Alto high-speed rail line rolled onto Parliament Hill Wednesday afternoon, as opposition politicians, farmers and citizen groups called on the federal government to scrap the proposed line connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
The l’Union des producteurs agricoles, which represents agricultural producers in Quebec, organized the protest, which included the Coalition for Better Rail, Rideau Lakes Against Alto, Save Stone Mills and the Tyendinaga Township Landowners Coalition.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre told the crowd the Conservative Party would halt the project.
“We, as Conservatives, would rather save the $90 billion,” Poilievre said.
“Let our farmers keep their land, let our communities enjoy their peace and tranquility. We will cancel this $90 billion Liberal white elephant, and we will use the savings to put the money back in the pockets of Canadians so that they can afford food and homes and wonderful futures. That is our Conservative approach.”
Alto has been tasked with building the high-speed rail line, with the first phase to be built between Ottawa and Montreal.
Karen Black of Centreville, between Napanee and Kingston, said she wants to support all the communities that may be affected by Alto.
“It’s dividing communities to the north, to the south,” Black said. “It’s $90 billion… it’s hard for me to understand when the 401 doesn’t work and VIA (Rail) doesn’t work, how an elite high-speed rail, breaking up all the communities in rural Ontario and Quebec is going to help matters.”
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Stephan Wolf of Hammond, Ont., said they’re concerned about Alto’s impact on farmers and rural communities in eastern Ontario and western Quebec.
“Since the beginning of the project, we have a lack of information from Alto,” Wolf said.
“Every question we ask, they never have any answers. If a project is going to cost $90 billion, we should have answers.”
The proposed high-speed rail project has faced opposition from rural property owners and politicians at all three levels of government since it began public consultations.
In April, 12 mayors and reeves across eastern Ontario signed a letter to oppose the Alto project. In late May, the United Counties of Prescott-Russell council passed a resolution to refuse to grant Alto access to county land for environmental studies and declined to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the Crown corporation for its study.
On Monday, Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said a Parti Québécois government would withdraw Quebec from the high-speed rail project.
“I can’t justify to Quebecers that their money be sunk into a pharaonic project that, according to studies, will have little impact on traffic on our roads and that risks turning into a massive financial fiasco,” he said in French on X.
Lanark-Frontenac Conservative MP Scott Reid is sponsoring a petition, initiated by a Godfrey, Ont. resident, calling on the federal government to cancel the Alto project and “focus on projects that will provide better value and lower risk to Canadians.” The petition had 1,259 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
In a Facebook past last week, Reid said he presented 15 petitions signed by 3,357 Canadians against the Alto project.
“These petitioners are concerned that their land will be expropriated and their lives destroyed by this project that is going to pass through their communities,” Reid said.
“They are also painfully aware that once their land has been taken from them by the government, they and their children will then be sent the tax bill for their share of a project so expensive that it will cost $9,000 for every family of four nationwide.”
According to the Alto website, high-speed rail will attract up to 24 million passengers annually by 2055. The Crown corporation says travel time would be approximately two hours between Toronto and Ottawa and three hours between Toronto and Montreal.
A spokesperson for Alto told CTV News Ottawa last week that a report on its 100 days of public consultations on the first phase of the project will be released later in June, and another round of public consultations will be held in the fall.
