Farmers in eastern Ontario, Quebec resisting land inspections for high-speed rail project

Dylan Dyson reports on the pushback by resident and farmers against Alto high-speed rail project, with many declining land surveys on their properties.

The high-speed rail project by Alto, connecting Toronto to Quebec City, is gaining steam.

Landowners in eastern Ontario and Quebec have started receiving letters from Alto, requesting permission to access their property to conduct land surveys.

East of Hawkesbury, Ont., cash crop farmer Shane Kirby and his family have called their farm home for five generations.

On Saturday, he received a notice from Alto requesting access to his property, which he says could threaten his family’s future.

“They’ve asked to enter the property for three years [to conduct] non-intrusive geological studies on the farm for the Alto train,” Kirby told CTV News Ottawa Tuesday.

“I don’t agree with this, this angers me a lot.”

Alto has proposed plans to connect Toronto to Quebec City by high-speed rail, with the first leg of the project being built between Ottawa and Montreal.

“Closer to the Highway 417 corridor, Alto is proposing to run their train in this area somewhere. We haven’t quite been told where it will be going,” said Kirby, pointing to the far end of his farm, composed of a total of 300 acres.

“I was initially very worried that I could be potentially affected, and now that I’ve received the permission to enter for soil samples, I believe I will be affected.”

Kirby says his family called Alto to respond to the letter.

“Told them they were not welcome on the property. Not now and not in the future as well,” Kirby said.

In a statement to CTV News regarding the land surveys, Alto said, “participation is voluntary and participants will receive financial compensation. No field studies will be conducted on private properties without consent from their owners.”

Opposition group ALTNO says dozens of landowners in the Ottawa-Montreal corridor have received letters from Alto, with compensation offered between $1,200 to $1,500.

Alto adds that receiving a survey request “does not necessarily mean that your property will need to be acquired for the project, nor that the future train will run near it. Indeed, we are still studying a wide corridor, and the exact alignment has not yet been finalized.”

Dairy farmer Kevin Hammond of Benallan Farms operates two farms, one in Ontario and another within 10 kilometres in Quebec. He says he received notices from Alto for both of his properties.

“In my eyes, there’s no amount of money worth this project for us. So, we’re not we’re entertaining the idea at any point in time,” Hammond said.

He’s worried that high speed rail on his property could damage the land. Kirby is also worried about contamination to wells and waterways, and access to parts of the community cut off by rail tracks.

“I’m not against progress. But progress that creates more destruction, it’s not progress,” says Kirby.

Hammond says his family has not responded to the letter from Alto yet, noting that there is no spot to decline the request.

He says they have contacted lawyers to determine the best way of keeping Alto’s high speed rail project off their property.

“We’re not giving up,” says Kirby. “We’re not giving up our land.”

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