Many Vankleek Hill and area residents were among the approximately 1,500 people who demonstrated on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 10 against the proposed Alto high-speed rail project.
Isabel Deslauriers of St-Eugène was one of the participants. She said an entire bus of demonstrators departed from Herb’s Travel Plaza for Ottawa with people from Vankleek Hill, Chute-à-Blondeau, St-Eugène, St-Isidore and other places aboard. Many others from the area traveled to Ottawa on their own. Deslauriers said there was also a full bus from Rigaud and several other locations.
The demonstration was organized by the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), Québec’s main farm organization, but non-farmers and those from outside Québec evidently participated. The effects upon property, the environment, and the estimated $60 billion to $90 billion cost of the federal project are the main sources of opposition to the proposed high-speed rail system. Currently, only the initial Ottawa to Montréal connection is being planned, but Alto is to eventually link Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, and Québec City.
Before assembling on Parliament Hill, the demonstrators from Ontario and Québec symbolically met on the Alexandra Bridge and then walked together to an area in front of the under-construction Centre Block.
“The image of Québec and Ontario (residents) joining forces at the bridge and everyone walking together to Parliament was something I will never forget,” said Kristin Muller of St-Eugène, a local organizer of activities displaying opposition to the rail project.
Deslauriers said there was a significant diversity of people represented at the demonstration.
“I believe the demonstration was successful because it showed that all types of stakeholders are opposed to the project: farmers, residents, business owners, environmentalists, first generation landowners, multi generational families, rural and urban citizens. This showed that the project is not only flawed from one perspective,” she said.
Deslauriers said the opposition among the demonstrators and speakers was not partisan. She said supporters of the Conservative, Bloc Québecois, Green, and Liberal parties could all be counted amongst the speakers and attendees.
“It was a powerful message to see the march led by people carrying the Québec flag, the Ontario flag, and the Franco-Ontarian flag, chanting in both French and English,” Deslauriers remarked.
The list of elected officials who spoke at the demonstration included Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, Lanark-Frontenac Member of Parliament (MP) Scott Reid (Conservative), Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands-Rideau Lakes MP Michael Barrett (Conservative), Lévis-Lotbinière MP Jacques Gourde (Conservative), Mirabel MP Jean-Denis Garon (Bloc Québécois), Mirabel Councillor Robert Charron, and Rideau Lakes Councillor Paula Banks.
“Elected officials will surely take notice of this demonstration, but the ball remains firmly in their court when it comes to showing that they are listening and taking the time to truly understand the project before spending what could be hundreds of billions of dollars on it,” Deslauriers said.
Other speakers at the demonstration included National Farmer’s Union (NFU) Ontario President Jenn Pfennig, Lachute and East Hawkesbury farmer Warren Hammond, UPA Argenteuil President Sébastien Peeters, Sylvain Ethier, whose property was previously expropriated by the federal government for Mirabel Airport in 1969, and United Front Ontario Team spokesperson Kathleen O’Connell Renaud of St-Eugène.
Brigitte Bérubé of Dalkeith participated in the demonstration. She was accompanied by Thaila Riden, Claire Lavallée, and Valéry Rossbach. Berube said she was interviewed by the Canadian Press wire service at the event.
“I highlighted the stress and anguish being faced by our community,” Bérubé said.
Submitted photos
