Ottawa city councillors are backing a high-speed rail plan that could get commuters from Ottawa to Toronto in just over two hours.
Fast train service has been a dream for decades in Canada, the only G7 country without high-speed rail. But there is momentum for such a project now given the nudge given by the government of Justin Trudeau and continuing consideration from Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Consultants from the consortium Alto, gave the city’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee an overview of their plan to build a 1,000-km network from Toronto to Quebec City, with trains that will travel up to 300 km/hour.
“It’s not often that we get to hear presentations that encourage us all to dream and to not think big, but think huge,” said Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine during the meeting.
Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas, who put forward a motion to support the plan, also believes the Toronto-Quebec City corridor would have a positive impact on the city.
“I do think that this is a huge opportunity for the federal government to pay for something that we can then tap into and leverage from an economic standpoint,” she said. “I do want more people to come here, I want more people to work here, more businesses to be attracted here and more people to visit our nation’s capital.”
I do think that this is a huge opportunity for the federal government to pay for something that we can then tap into and leverage from an economic standpoint
Orléans West-Innes Coun. Laura Dudas
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the government’s new Major Projects Office in August. The office is focused on five infrastructure projects of “national interest,” with the intention of developing a few others in the future.
The Alto High-Speed Rail is in the second list of projects. It has already received a $3.9 billion development contract from the federal government.
But not all councillors are supporting the idea.
South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches said he would rather see money invested in other urban priorities, such as existing local transit systems.
“I wouldn’t put this project in the top 100 or top 50 for our city. We’ve been advocating for the federal-provincial governments to help us with our own inner city transit needs, such as a train to Barrhaven and Kanata,” he said during the meeting.
In the end, however, Desroches was the only committee member to withhold support for the motion to support the project.
“I think the project looks good on paper, but there’s still a lot of decision points that need to be made, a lot of consultation that needs to take place with the public. So I was uncomfortable giving it a ringing endorsement and an A plus grade at this point in the process,” Desroches told Capital Current after the meeting.
“Really, it’s the job of the members of Parliament here locally to champion this project, and [to see] if they think it’s valuable and important. And then they need to make the case, not the City of Ottawa,” he said.
Three councillors are interested in having further discussion in individual meetings with an Alto consultant, including Devine, Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr (not a member of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee), and Orléans South-Navan Coun. Catherine Kitts.
The federal government says its involvement in the Alto project will cut its development phase timeline in half. They estimate construction should start in four years, rather than eight.
