Hawkesbury Councillor Julie Séguin has announced her opposition to the current form of the federal government’s proposed Alto high-speed rail project. The federal Crown Corporation is currently consulting with the public and planning the initial Alto line which would connect Ottawa with Montréal.
On Friday, February 27, Séguin, who was also the Conservative candidate for Prescott-Russell-Cumberland in the 2025 federal election, announced that after reviewing information and listening to residents, she concluded that she could not support the project as it is currently being presented.
“If there is no confirmed station in our region, our communities will not receive passenger access, station-driven economic development, or long-term employment benefits,” Séguin said in a statement. She added the project risks having permanent impacts on productive agricultural land.
“Farmland is not an empty space. It is a long-term investment, food security infrastructure, regulated soil, and the foundation of our rural tax base,” Séguin said.
She added that farmland could lose its productivity if it is divided by a high-speed rail corridor.
Séguin said there are already more serious needs to rehabilitate existing local infrastructure.
“When billions of dollars in public funds are proposed for a large-scale rail project with no confirmed local station, rural communities have a right to ask whether these funds would generate a better return if invested in essential infrastructure that directly serves residents,” she remarked.
Séguin said clear commitments for the protection of agricultural land, safeguards against expropriation, a transparent cost-benefit analysis, and a transportation strategy for Eastern Ontario are needed before she could consider supporting the Alto proposal.
“Rural communities must not be treated as corridor space between big cities,” concluded Séguin.
