At Lanark County council, councillors formally supported a motion from the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus opposing the ALTO high-speed rail project in its current form.
The Caucus represents 11 counties and two single-tier municipalities.
Warden and Beckwith Reeve Richard Kidd stressed that the motion was clear and deserved his County’s support
With the public commenting period ending on April 24th, Kidd said it was time for Lanark to provide specific information on reducing the impact to local communities.
Lanark County council approved adding their voices to the EOWC motion. The complete motion follows.
The EOWC formally opposes the ALTO project in its current form; and that this opposition is based on concerns related to insufficient municipal consultation, unclear rural and small-urban impacts, potential environmental effects, and alignments with existing eastern Ontario planning and infrastructure priorities; and that the EOWC urge our member municipalities, partners, businesses, and residents to share their questions and comments with ALTO and federal representatives as part of the engagement process; and that the EOWC look to gather detailed information from ALTO to more fulsomely understand the project and its impacts across eastern Ontario; and that the EOWC advocates that the Federal Government and ALTO fully explore train route options along existing infrastructure corridors, such as VIA Rail and/or Highway 401; and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, The Honourable Steve MacKinnon, Minister of Transportation, Martin Imbleau, President and CEO of ALTO, EOWC Members of Parliament, Premier Doug Ford, EOWC Members of Provincial Parliament, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus, all EOWC municipalities, and Eastern Ontario First Nations partners.
Story by Brian Turner
