To the Editor,
I feel the need to express my gratitude to all of you who are involved with organizing meetings, distributing information, publishing our letters, putting up signs and encouraging us to participate in any way we can to oppose the Alto high-speed rail (HSR) project. This type of coordinated effort requires patience, skill, dedication, endless hours of work and involvement. So, thank you.
In an interview with CBC, Alto’s CEO, Martin Imbleau was asked about opposition to high-speed rail. He stated that community reactions follow a predictable pattern and that he believed the majority of comments were positive. All of you who are leading the charge are anything but predictable, to use his words. He probably wasn’t anticipating the formidable wave of energy generated by Alt-No, nor the reaction of Eastern Ontario’s municipalities and Counties, nor that of the farming associations and finally that of the citizens, whether or not their properties are being targeted.
And yes, last March I did write a personal letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney hoping it would be more effective than an e-mail. I received a prompt and very polite answer stating that my opinions were important and that my letter had been forwarded to Minister Steven MacKinnon at Transport Canada.
Transport Canada’s answer was the usual rhetoric extolling the virtues of HSR without a single concern for all of us whose lives will be forever changed if this Alto project is ever completed, whether or not our properties are impacted.
And by the way, I sent Doug Ford the same letter and I’m still waiting for an answer. I know it’s a federal project but since his province is potentially being sliced in two, I was hoping for some kind of response and wondering who among those in power is actually listening to our concerns.
Too many people have no idea what Alto is, so I encourage all of you reading this to enlighten them.
In Alto’s crosshairs.
Louise V. Seguin,
Dalkeith
