Farmers, citizen groups to attend Parliament Hill protest opposing Alto high-speed rail today

The Alto high-speed train would travel at 300km/h and go from Toronto to Montreal in three hours – just over half the time it takes to drive. (Alto)

Agricultural producers and citizen groups will visit Parliament Hill today to express their opposition to the proposed high-speed rail line connecting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.

Alto has been tasked with building the high-speed rail line, with the first phase to be built between Ottawa and Montreal.

• Farm groups urge review of Alto rail project, citing costs and impacts

The l’Union des producteurs agricoles, which represents agricultural producers in Quebec, has organized a 12 p.m. protest in Ottawa to express opposition to the high-speed rail project.

“The demonstration aims to raise awareness among elected officials and the public about the many impacts the (high-speed rail) project would have on the agricultural sector and affected municipalities,” the organization said in a statement.

“These impacts include potential expropriations, as well as the effects of the project on farms and surrounding properties. The rail line’s proposed route would have significant consequences for agricultural operations, local businesses, the natural environment and the vitality of local communities.”

Several organizations are scheduled to participate, including the Coalition for Better Rail, Rideau Lakes Against Alto, Save Stone Mills and the Tyendinaga Township Landowners Coalition.

The group Save South Frontenac has chartered a bus to travel to Ottawa for the rally, saying there will be a walk from the Alexandra Bridge to Parliament Hill.

Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs are scheduled to speak at the rally.

Alto 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.

• ‘We would destroy the neighbourhood’: Alto CEO rules out downtown Ottawa stop

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 related later in June, and another round of public consultations will be held in the fall.

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App