The members of the Ontario Conservative Eastern Caucus are asking the federal government to listen to residents’ concerns over the ALTO high-speed rail project.
The 11 Members of Provincial Parliament who make up the caucus issued a joint statement on Tuesday. The group includes Billy Denault, Steve Clark, John Jordan, Tyler Allsopp, George Darouze, Nolan Quinn, David Piccini, Laurie Scott, Stephane Sarrazin, Ric Bresee and Dave Smith.
“Investments that strengthen Ontario’s economy, improve transportation, and create jobs need to reflect the priorities and needs of rural communities, farmers, families, and local businesses.”
It said that public confidence in major infrastructure projects depends on meaningful consultation. In the case of ALTO, too many questions remain unanswered, and too many voices have been ignored.
“If ALTO is to proceed, local voices impacted by this project deserve to see their feedback reflected in the project’s planning, route selection and delivery. The federal government must ensure that any potential future rail project minimizes impacts on farmland and is supported by the people affected. We will continue to stand with our municipalities, farmers, landowners, and residents,” it concluded.
Kristin Muller, a spokesperson for ALTNO, a community group opposed to the high-speed project, said ALTO is being called a nation-building project, but what her group is seeing is the opposite.
“Rising grassroots backlash, municipalities pushing back, and now provinces starting to pull away. That’s not progress, that’s a red flag. If governments are starting to reconsider, it’s not because the public is confused. It’s because reality is catching up.”
Muller added it appears support for the project may be crumbling.
“You had the statement from the party in Quebec saying they wouldn’t support it. Doug Ford has walked back his support potentially, so it’s nice to see that vocalized and it’s nice to see that out in the media.”
Vista Radio reached out to MPPs Steve Clark and Ric Breese for an interview. Clark’s office said he would not comment further, and we did not hear back from Breese by press time.
CTV News has reported that anonymous sources say the province is reconsidering its support for the project after the federal government decided to hit the brakes on the province’s plan to extend the runway at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Island airport to allow for jets to take off and land.
Muller said it is unfortunate that a large project such as ALTO is part of political gamesmanship and added opposition to it is growing.
“I don’t think it is right for a project of this scale to be part of something like this. There is momentum and we have been working on this since January since the consultation first came to our area. The fact municipalities are directly speaking out against the project, refusing to sign NDA’s, refusing to allow ALTO access to lands – hopefully it’s just a matter of time before we have others being vocal.”
