A bold, pressing reality looms: a high-speed rail project could carve through rural life as we know it, threatening livelihoods and the very landscape people cherish.
Every day, Gord Boulton travels through forests, lakes, and clearings where his hunting and fishing outfitting business operates. His property hosts a handful of camps and wildlife like deer, wild turkeys, beavers, and bass. Yet he can already imagine that tranquility being shattered by a train rushing by at 300 km/h along a corridor that might cut through his land.
“It’s going to roar right through the countryside, destroy it, and bisect communities,” says Boulton, who tends a 1,000-hectare property—roughly 1,400 soccer fields—in Battersea, Ontario, northeast of Kingston. He’s speaking about a proposed high-speed line linking Toronto to Quebec City and has joined a growing rural backlash across Ontario and Quebec.
“I get calls every day, and people are crying,” he says, recalling the moment he launched a Facebook group called Save South Frontenac, the township where he lives. “I was stunned that this project could flip my life upside down, shut my business, and erase the activities my family loves.”
Boulton isn’t alone. A grassroots coalition of farmers, small-town residents, and municipal councillors argues the rail corridor would rupture communities, force hundreds of land expropriations, and deliver scant local benefits while costing taxpayers billions.
In eastern Ontario, at least five townships and municipalities have passed resolutions opposing a southern corridor choice for the line, with at least one opposing the more northern option as well. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles have both urged a pause on the project. Numerous Facebook groups opposing the plan or amplifying residents’ concerns have emerged, with three of them attracting over 14,000 members combined.
Alto, the Crown corporation steering the project, is considering two eastern Ontario corridors: a direct Ottawa–Peterborough route and a more southerly arc between the same two cities.
Construction of the first phase—about 1,000 kilometres long—could begin in 2029 or 2030, connecting Montreal and Ottawa and serving as a test case for a sweeping transformation of Canada’s rail travel in its most densely populated region.
The federal government has designated seven mandatory stops: Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec City.
Caroline Stephenson of Madoc, Ontario, worries that a dedicated, fenced track would block country roads and force longer, bottleneck-prone drives for commuters and first responders, since high speeds make at-grade crossings impractical. “The school bus that picks up my neighbor’s kids will have to travel longer routes. Every daily movement becomes more difficult,” she notes.
In Quebec, farmers protested with long lines of tractors through Mirabel, just north of Montreal, voicing concerns about disrupted lives and livelihoods. Stephane Alary, regional president of the province’s farmers union, explains that when fields are separated by a railroad, accessing distant plots can require lengthy detours—five to ten kilometers or more. That lack of convenience, and safety concerns for slow-moving tractors on busy roads near Canada’s second-largest city, could create significant problems and, for many farmers, compel selling portions of land. “There’s a cost,” he says.
Alto argues the project would bring economic growth, more jobs, and increased tourism, alongside emissions reductions and safer travel. The plan envisions a three-hour Toronto–Montreal journey and under an hour between Montreal and Ottawa, with construction of the initial segment expected to begin within the next five years.
CEO Martin Imbleau acknowledged that some expropriations will be necessary, though he declined to provide a specific estimate. The goal, he said, is to negotiate with willing sellers, maintain transparent consultation, and keep expropriation as a last resort rather than the default tool.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on March 4, 2026.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
