Opposition is mounting to the federal government's proposed $90 billion Alto high-speed rail project as concerns grow over costs, farmland and the impact on rural communities, according to an internal Department of Infrastructure memo.Blacklock's Reporter says the March 31 Briefing Note To The Minister warned Alto Corporation, the Crown agency overseeing the project, must meet key deadlines if construction is to begin as planned in 2029.“While early public engagement shows strong support, the project is increasingly scrutinized for its cost, timeline and potential impacts on communities and agricultural land,” said the memo.Public consultations on the first proposed section between Ottawa and Montréal attracted 13,344 participants, far exceeding the 5,000 originally anticipated by officials.However, the department acknowledged the consultations were followed by growing opposition to the project.The memo did not mention House of Commons petitions opposing construction that have attracted a combined 30,243 signatures to date.“Support is strong overall with 70% of respondents at Québec open houses and 80% in Ontario expressing approval,” said the note, titled Alto High Speed Rail Project.“Opposition is concentrated in rural areas with concerns primarily focused on agricultural land.”The censored four-page document, obtained through Access to Information, said the proposed rail line was “generating strong feedback.”The federal government proposes building an electrified high-speed railway connecting Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montréal, Trois-Rivières and Québec City.Trains would travel at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour.Cabinet has budgeted $4.3 billion to date for preparatory work on the project.A June 16, 2025 Department of Transport briefing note put the project's potential cost at between $60 billion and $90 billion. That figure has not been verified or revised.Alto CEO Martin Imbleau told the Senate national finance committee Feb. 24 that the figure should not be considered a formal cost estimate.“It’s not a cost estimate,” said Imbleau. “I don’t want to be picky, but to have a cost estimate you need to have a proper level of engineering which we still don’t have. So I prefer to use ‘working assumption.’”Imbleau said the range was based on information received from bidders as well as international estimates.“It’s an internal working assumption based on what we’ve got from the bidders, but also our international estimate,” he said. “You would appreciate it’s a fairly wide range because we need more detailed engineering.”.The infrastructure department said an initial detailed proposal for the Ottawa-Montréal section must be submitted to the Impact Assessment Agency in January to keep the project on schedule.“Timely execution of land strategy is critical to achieving a 2029 construction start,” said the memo.Officials acknowledged acquiring the land required for the railway has already generated controversy.“The scale and complexity of land acquisitions required have drawn public attention and criticism,” said the memo. “Media coverage has highlighted concerns about cost.”
