Farmers, landowners, families and community members from across Eastern Ontario and Western Québec will come together Saturday, September 19, for a bilingual rally opposing the proposed ALTO high-speed rail project.
Strong and United—Rassemblement Fort et Unis will take place at Fermes Legault, 1100 Chemin Saint-Thomas in Rigaud, bringing together people from both sides of the Ottawa River who say they have serious concerns about the potential impact of the project on farms, homes, properties, roads, communities and agricultural land.
The event will begin with a tractor parade at noon, followed by a series of speakers discussing the economic, agricultural, social, ethical and governance issues surrounding ALTO.
Organizers say the rally is intended to show that concerns about the project extend beyond individual municipalities or provincial borders.
“ALTO doesn’t stop at the Québec-Ontario border, and neither does our opposition,” said Ben Hammond of Lachute, of BenAllen Farms, a fourth-generation farming operation in Quebec and Ontario.
The tractor parade will put agriculture at the centre of the event. Organizers say productive farmland should not simply be viewed as land that can be cleared to make way for a transportation corridor.
“You can’t eat a train,” said Ontario Federation of Agriculture Provincial Director and South Glengarry Councillor Sam McDonell. “You can’t relocate a farm the way you relocate a station.”
The speakers will include Dr. Ian Lee of Carleton University, discussing the economics of ALTO; Erin Durant of Durant Barristers, speaking about governance and ethics; Anaïs Thibodeau, addressing public transit in rural communities; Jeremy Letelier, President of UPA Montérégie, discussing the social acceptability of ALTO; and Sébastien Lemire, Member of Parliament and Bloc Québécois Agriculture Critic, speaking about Canadian food sovereignty.
The Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) will also be represented.
Organizers say the rally is about more than opposing a high-speed rail project. They say it is also about how major infrastructure decisions are made and how the impact on the people living along a proposed route is considered.
“People are being told that this is progress and that they should simply get out of the way,” said ALTNO director and East Hawkesbury Councillor-designate Kathleen O’Connell Renaud. She says residents deserve answers about the project’s cost, land requirements, agriculture, environmental impacts and potential disruption to communities.
For residents along the proposed corridor, organizers say the issue involves homes, farms, businesses, roads and family land that, in some cases, has been passed down through generations.
Event Details
Strong and United—Rassemblement Fort et Unis
Saturday, September 19
Fermes Legault
1100 Chemin Saint-Thomas, Rigaud, Quebec
- Gates open: 10 a.m.
- Tractor parade: 12 p.m.
- Welcome: 12:30 p.m.
- Speeches: 12:40 to 2 p.m.
- Bilingual event
- Free parking
- All ages welcome