To the Editor,

Not unlike the Mirabel Airport back in the day, with all these tantalizing job prospects within reach, who will dare to oppose such a project? A high-speed train from Québec City to Toronto has been on the back burner of the federal government for decades, but common sense has kept it at bay until this tariff war came along to justify its inception. By this I mean the exorbitant cost for our country, as well as the fracturing of farmland and disrupting the very fabric of our rural communities. By this I mean that railroad crossings will be few and far between as it will be impossible to drive across those tracks anywhere else even for farmers to access their fields, pastures, sugar bush etc. beyond those tracks. That will be a serious inconvenience for the entire population. To add insult to injury, the very people most impacted will not benefit from this project. Perhaps one solution if this hi-speed project  must move forward would be to build the tracks along one of our major highways, the 417 (40 in Québec) or the 201 (20 in Québec) or follow an existing railroad to lesson the impact on the rural communities.
        Another serious concern is whether this train will work during our cold Canadian winters. Judging by the endless problems with the O Train in Ottawa and the REM in Montréal, that prospect is rather dim and does not bode well for such technology. The more we look at this proposed project, the more concerns we should have, namely the cost in the tens of billions of dollars, the serious and lasting disruption of our rural communities, the extensive expropriations and permanent loss of precious farmland and the almost certain unreliability of that technology. Add to this the official opposition of many municipalities. One solution would be to improve our present railway system to serve more people with higher frequency service in a safe and effective manner. I guess we all wonder whether the voices of logic and common sense will be heard above the jingle of big money with its lobbying power in high places. That is my humble opinion as a resident of Eastern Ontario. One way we have to make our voices heard is through our local newspaper, so please join me if you feel strongly about this issue. This letter was also sent to our local MP. 

Respectfully,

Leola Meagher

L’Orignal