Bruno Proulx does not want to see a high-speed train anywhere near his property.
The dairy farmer from Saint-Placide, Que., says the railway would impact his farmland and its operations.
“You’re basically cutting all the farming communities in half,” said Proulx, the co-owner of Ferme M.G Proulx Inc.
He’s among what appears to be growing opposition to the proposed high-speed train that would link Quebec City to Toronto. The project, led by the Crown corporation Alto, would have several stops in Ontario and Quebec.
Construction of the first 200-kilometre segment between Montreal and Ottawa is scheduled to begin in 2029 or 2030. According to figures cited by the Quebec farm union, that initial segment between Montreal and Ottawa would affect about 1,700 properties, including at least 500 agricultural properties.
On Tuesday, Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said his government, if elected in October, would remove Quebec from the project. St-Pierre Plamondon values the project at “potentially $200 billion” and suggests that Quebec’s share would therefore be around $40 billion.
Alto estimates the project will cost between $60 and $90 billion.
Signs and billboards in Saint-Placide reflect the residents’ discontentment with the project. “A high-speed train at $90 billion. Not a priority,” reads a sign at the side of road.
Proulx says his biggest concern is that the fences built on both sides of the railway would block roads that give direct access to farmland.
“With roads being blocked by Alto and fields being cut in half, what are we going to do? How can we get the feed for the cows? How we get rid of the manure? It’s a headache.”
Proulx showed CityNews a map of farmland from the Ontario-Quebec boundary to Laval that he says has received contracts from Alto to survey land, including his property. He also produced another map that shows a three-kilometre stretch of road where his farm and a number of other farms would be divided by the Alto high-speed train tracks that could force farmers to take longer routes to access their entire properties.
“To go on the other side of my farms, it’s a five-kilometre drive,” Proulx explained. “But if I need to take other roads, the only roads that will be left open here will make me do 30 or 50 kilometres to reach the field that is just five kilometres away.
“It will completely destroy how you operate your farm. Margins and farming are very, very, very, very tight, especially now with the fuel price.”
Proulx’s opposition is being echoed by many more in the agricultural industry in Quebec. Agricultural producers from Mirabel, Argenteuil and Deux-Montagnes are taking part in a peaceful demonstration planned for Wednesday in front of the Parliament in Ottawa to express opposition to the Alto high-speed rail project.
“We want them to know that they need to consider the impact it will have,” said Sylvain Leroux, the co-owner of Ferme S. P. Leroux Inc. “It’s never going to be a positive impact for farmland, for farmers, farm families, and the capacity to feed our constituents.”
