Picture via Carleton Place Mayor Toby Randell
On March 4th, Alto, the crown corporation tasked with building a high-speed rail line between Montreal and Toronto, held two open houses in Perth. Both the morning/early afternoon and evening sessions were well attended by area residents looking for answers as to how the route would affect them, their properties, and the environment. Over 1,000 attended.
Benoit Bourdeau with Alto said the large number of people helped with gathering valuable data on possible routes for the line.
One of the attendees, Tom, had concerns about the rail line cutting off access to individual properties by blocking smaller rural roads and wasn’t satisfied with Alto’s position that resources would be applied to reduce access risks.
Reverend Bruce North felt that all the details needed by residents weren’t easy to obtain from Alto staff and that the event was simply an exercise in managing expectations.
Beckwith Deputy Reeve Brian Dowdall found that the information available was overwhelming and leads to distrust among affected residents.
Perth Mayor Judy Brown was pleased with the open house format that allowed attendees to circulate and view information displays while asking questions of Alto staff.
Public consultations are expected to finish at the end of the month and the Federal Minister of Transport has stated a final route will be chosen this year with land expropriations to begin soon after. Currently Alto is looking at either a northern path near Hwy 7 for a direct line between Ottawa and Peterborough or a more southerly route closer to the St. Lawrence River.
Story by Brian Turner