Farmers and local elected officials in Repentigny, Que., are calling for a proposed high-speed rail project to be scrapped over concerns it could cut through agricultural land and threaten their livelihoods.
Guillaume Alary, a third-generation crop farmer, says he fears the proposed rail line could divide his property and fundamentally change the life his family has built there.
“I’m concerned about my land, my family. I’m concerned about the land and families of my neighbours,” Alary told Global News on Thursday.
Alary owns more than 260 hectares of land, where he grows wheat, corn and soybeans and produces hay. His family’s farming history on the property dates back to his grandfather.
But the farmer says he is now left wondering how much of that land he could lose if the project moves ahead.
“Will I lose half my land? Will I lose my house?”
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Alary said he learned about the project at the beginning of the year but was never consulted. “I’m upset about a project that is not transparent,” he said.
Alto, the federal agency overseeing the project, is proposing a high-speed rail network between Quebec City and Toronto. Much of the proposed route is mapped along agricultural property.
Opposition is also coming from the regional farmers’ union. “Right now what we have to do is stop the project,” said Simon Duval, regional president of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) in Lanaudière.
Duval said farmers could face significant detours if the rail line divides their properties, potentially hurting their bottom line.
“Half of your land is going to be on the other side. So the detour you’re going to have to do to access the other side is going to totally ruin the financial aspect of it,” he said.
In a statement to Global News, an Alto spokesperson said the agency held consultations earlier this year and received 20,000 comments.
“As the corridor approaches more urbanized areas such as Repentigny, the priority is to identify a route that minimizes impacts on residential neighbourhoods and agricultural lands,” the statement read.
Bloc Québécois MP Patrick Bonin, who represents Repentigny, said he cannot support the project. “There is no proper public consultation and environmental assessment,” Bonin said.
Repentigny city councillor Normand Urbain also raised concerns about how farmers would move equipment between properties if their land were divided by railway tracks.
“Imagine having a train pass right in the middle of your farmland and you have to bring your tractors from one side to the other. You can’t pass over the rails,” Urbain said.
For Alary, the uncertainty surrounding the project has left him worried not only about his farm, but about a way of life passed down through generations.
“(I’d be) losing a piece of my reason to live,” he said.
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