Patrick Meagher
Farmers Forum
The proposed Alto electric train, to run between Quebec City and Toronto, exposes a double-standard that looks more like a government-funded money-laundering scheme.
Alto was set up long before Canadians, who would be most affected by the train, were consulted. It is a taxpayer-money-sucking crown corporation, which means it doesn’t abide by the same rules as you and me. In fact, two laws were changed that speed up its access to ripping up the land that might be your backyard. Bill C-15 was introduced to ensure easier access to expropriation of land and the provincial Endangered Species Act was dropped this year so that those pesky blanding turtles and loggerhead shrikes that stopped you from building a barn or clearing an acre of land won’t slow down Alto.
It gets worse. Alto’s website blows itself kisses for its embrace of Canadian values. The words of a sophist’s dream are here. They say they are nation-building, increasing opportunities, and working together with indigenous communities.
Really? The federal government wants to jam a “Berlin Wall” through the heart of the countryside that does not include any native reserves. But, hey, Alto says it’s working with those communities. How about working with the communities where the Alto line will pass through?
What does nation building even mean if the people living in and around the corridor hate this project? This is about as nation-dividing as you can get. The train’s corridor will not only literally divide rural Eastern Ontario but Maritimers and Western Canadians would have to pay for a train they will never use.
Rural Eastern Ontario residents wouldn’t even use it. There are only three proposed stops in Ontario (Ottawa, Peterborough and the far north-end of Toronto). Who in Perth would want to drive to Peterborough, pay for long-term parking, and take a train that drops them off north of Hwy 401?
No one has even asked for this high-speed train. There is no “building a better Canada” if there is no consensus for this project . There is also no serious analysis that suggests there will ever be enough riders to save this monstrosity from drowning in red ink. Alto says it is creating opportunities? For whom? Insolvency trustees? There are no opportunities for farms where the land gets cut in half and for residents who would face driving half-an-hour to visit a neighbour because the nearest train overpass is 10 kilometres away.
The cart is so far ahead of the horse on this project that it looks more like a train wreck than a train. Before anyone living along this 1,000-kilometre long Berlin Wall train corridor even heard about this idea for a train, the government formed the crown corporation Alto and stuffed its pockets with so much of your money it finds ludicrous ways to spend it.
Alto spent almost $4 million this year in bonuses for more than half of its 216 employees. That’s not nation-building its personal-portfolio building. This money-sucker is also stacked with managers. Alto has 13 vice-presidents and last year each one received on average a $68,000 bonus. Alto also has 44 directors. They all got bonuses too.
Alto also spent $1.59-million to advertise a train line that won’t exist for at least 10 years. Which of those bonused geniuses came up with that idea? And we’re supposed to trust them with a bullet train?
Anyone who has looked at this north of $100-billion government plan sees a white elephant similar to the Montreal Mirabel airport that no one now uses. This Alto plan stinks all the way to the PMO.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is a big supporter of Alto. Yet, he wrote a book called Values in 2021, in which he argues that capitalism needs to change by aligning business decisions with human values to build a fairer, more sustainable world.
I guess you have to have the right human values. Rural grassroots values don’t seem to count. Keep making noise and they will.
Patrick Meagher is editor of Farmers Forum and can be reached at editor@farmersforum.com
