Carney defends high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City amid growing opposition

Canada's Transportation Minister, Steven MacKinnon, discusses the growing divide over a multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec.

OTTAWA -- High-speed rail connecting Toronto and Quebec City would be a boon to the economy and job creation, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday, defending his government’s project as opposition to it continues to grow.

Much of the criticism comes from communities where land will be expropriated for the construction, but Carney said the project will require only about a 10-metre swath for the route, and people who lose land to it will be compensated.

Carney said at a news conference in Brampton, Ont., the project will create more than 50,000 jobs and contribute more than $35 billion to the economy.

“When you look at the overall (picture), what the high-speed rail does, is it’s more cost-effective, it’s more sustainable, it’s connecting our communities, it’s going to be faster,” Carney said.

Last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the government should cancel the proposed rail line, and there has been a growing backlash to the project among rural residents in Ontario and Quebec.

A community group called Save South Frontenac has created a map highlighting dozens of organizations, municipalities, conservation groups, farming associations and elected officials who are opposing or have raised concerns about the plan.

The group says common concerns include loss of road access, farmland and biodiversity, and the effects on source water, emergency services and recreational areas.

“Opposition to the proposed Alto High-Speed Railway plan is gaining momentum across Eastern Ontario,” says Save South Frontenac’s website. “Many published statements question whether the Alto High-Speed Rail plan is the right solution for Canada -- citing high costs, the number and location of proposed stops, and the absence of a business plan.”

South Frontenac is a region just north of Kingston, Ont., along the proposed route between Toronto and Ottawa.

Alto, the Crown corporation established in 2022 to oversee the development of high speed rail, has proposed a corridor about 60 kilometres wide, but its website says this corridor is not the final route. It is undergoing community consultations and field studies to determine the final right-of-way, which it says will be about 60 metres wide.

“That route is the key to ensuring the future Alto train’s speed and efficiency. It must plan for long, straight segments and gentle curves to allow the train to achieve a high cruising speed,” the Alto website said. “While focusing on performance, we will also strive to reduce the impact on surrounding communities. To that end, the proposed corridor includes existing infrastructure that the network will follow where possible.”

Construction of the first phase linking Montreal and Ottawa is set to kick off in 2029 or 2030, and the full project is estimated to cost between $60 billion and $90 billion.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne’s partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, is Alto’s vice-president of environment, a position she took up in August 2025.

Carney said Champagne is following government ethics rules in recusing himself from the project.

“This is a good situation because we have a partner who can pursue her career, the minister of finance who can do his responsibilities, we have lots of other ministers who can take on their responsibilities,” Carney said Tuesday.

In a letter to Carney last year, Champagne said he was proactively implementing a conflict-of-interest screen regarding Alto “due to a personal connection to someone close to me in the organization, to safeguard against any real or perceived conflict of interest.”

Conservative MP and party ethics critic Michael Barrett said on social media Tuesday he has asked the ethics commissioner to investigate whether Champagne breached the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to Alto.

“The prospect of a Finance Minister making decisions as part of the federal government’s budgetary process which present distinct benefits and advantages for his partner and her employer -- and acting and voting in Parliament to give those effect -- is a very troubling development,” he said.

Poilievre said on social media Tuesday that “nothing adds up.”

“The Liberal finance minister claims he recused himself in September 2025 of the $90 billion Alto project, for which his wife is the vice president,” said Poilievre. “Yet here he is promoting the project in Senate testimony 6 months later. And here he is voting for it in the House of Commons. There it is in the budget he presented. And there is no recusal record on the Ethics Commissioner’s website.”

“$90 billion is at stake. Tell the truth, Minister.”

John Fragos, a spokesperson for the finance minister, highlighted in an email to The Canadian Press that Champagne’s letter was sent in early September.

He said the minister did so proactively and “has not been party to or involved in any discussions, decisions or any matters tied to the Alto project since, in keeping with his obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act.”

Fragos said the money in question was announced in February 2025 and allocated in the 2025 main estimates -- ahead of the minister’s partner joining the government subsidiary.

Melanie Rushworth, a spokesperson for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, said in an email to The Canadian Press that the commissioner does not normally comment on investigations or investigation requests.

“We can confirm that Minister Champagne has spoken to his adviser for advice and that the Office was copied on a Sept. 10, 2025 letter being covered in the news media,” she said.

The Canadian Press obtained emails exchanged between Champagne and Nathalie Trepanier, a compliance adviser for the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. In an email Tuesday, Trepanier said “there is no risk of conflict of interest and a screen is not required.”

“Considering that Alto is a Crown corporation accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Transport and as Minister of Finance you have no decision-making authority over matters of human resources at Alto, you do not have an opportunity to further the interest of any specific Alto employee,” said Trepanier’s email to the minister.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2026.

-- With files from Catherine Morrison