Growing local opposition threatens to derail Canada’s $90 billion Alto rail project

Last year, Ottawa gave the go-ahead to start the planning phase of Alto, an electric high-speed passenger rail network that aims to connect Toronto and Quebec City, making stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Trois-Rivières, Laval, and Montreal. With speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour, the trains promise to be nearly twice as fast as Via Rail’s and generate billions in economic benefits by slashing travel times and promoting cross-city integration. Led by a private consortium called Cadence, which includes companies like Air Canada and AtkinsRéalis, it could end up being one of the largest infrastructure projects in modern Canadian history… if it gets off the ground.

Last week, Alto ended its initial public consultation phase for the project, which included dozens of in-person meetings and various online engagements where the company requested feedback. During this 100-day consultation period, grassroots opposition against the project slowly picked up steam as more people in the train's potential path found out about its existence. Groups have proliferated on Facebook with members objecting to the proposed price tag, land expropriations, environmental ramifications, and impact on local business — alongside animus against urbanites.

One such group is Alt-No, a self-described “non-partisan residents group” with over 10,000 members on Facebook, claims that while it isn’t opposed to trains, it is “opposed to this train destroying our farms, homes, businesses, natural environment, and heritage.” While Alt-No originated as a means to share information about the project, its raison d'etre quickly changed, and it’s now looking to halt the project as it demands more transparency about its construction. “I think it’s a scary project in that there's really so little information being shared,” says Kathleen O'Connell-Renaud, the director-treasurer of Alt-No, “We've really just been trying to mobilize to get the municipalities to share information with the residents so that people can actually make informed decisions.”