Alto high-speed train would be ‘catastrophic’ for Quebec farmers, federation says

Farming has been in Daniel Legault’s family since 1929.

For the past 30 years, he’s run Ferme Legault, a dairy and cereal farm in Rigaud, Que., alongside his wife and son. 

While he hopes to pass the legacy down to his three grandsons, a proposed high-speed rail project threatens to sever his land in two and disrupt business.

“My father and I have worked our whole lives to build a business like this. And we have no control over the future,” he said. 

The proposed train line, designed to cut travel times between Toronto and Quebec City in half, could slice directly through Legault’s property. He says he received a flyer in the mail about the Alto project, and then a notice asking to study his land – which he says he refused.

Legault says the proposed train route would divide his farm and cut off his access to the main road. He says he’ll be forced to make large detours multiple times a day to get to his fields – severely affecting business. 

“It won’t be logistically feasible,” he said. “It’s going to be impossible to feed all these animals.”

Beyond Legault’s farm, Alto says the proposed project will impact about 1,700 properties, including at least 500 farms between Ottawa and Montreal. 

Legault says a lack of communication from those responsible for the project has left his family’s future in limbo. 

“[My son] doesn’t see the future as clearly as he did before this,” Legault said.

Jérémie Letellier, president of the Fédération de l’UPA de la Montérégie, a regional branch of Quebec’s largest agricultural federation, says the rail project would be disastrous for farming communities in Ontario and Quebec.

“It’s catastrophic the impact on a single farm,” Letellier said. “A lot of farms will be thinking about reorienting or even terminating their activities because of a project like that.”

He says everyone along the train’s proposed path from Rigaud to the North Shore is concerned.

Montreal-Ottawa high-speed rail line could cross 1,700 properties, Alto predicts

Could the Alto high speed rail plan be derailed?

Letellier says the train line will cut farmland in two, with no possibility of going over the rails. 

“Instead of having a couple 100 metres to go, you might have 15 to 20 kilometres to go. So it changes everything as far as the cost is concerned, and as far as the practicality of it,” he said.

Letellier is also denouncing Alto’s lack of transparency and consultation with his members over the past months, saying people have questions and are worried about their futures.

“I think we have to take a step back. I think we have to evaluate all the possibilities, the alternative possibilities,” he said.

Caroline Des Rosiers, a spokesperson for Alto, says a more detailed route for the network’s initial section between Ottawa and Montreal is expected in the fall.

“We’re developing the project at a fast pace, it does not mean that we are going to skip steps,” she said.

“We want to do things right.