Stakeholder Statements
Statements from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, OFA & UPA Joint Press Release, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Beef Farmers of Ontario, Trans Canada Trail, Dr. Steven Cooke & Colleagues, Ecojustice, Human Rights Watch, and the Rideau Waterway Land Trust.
Statements, resolutions, and open letters from agricultural, ecological, recreational, and civil-society organizations on the Alto HSR project and the powers granted under Bill C-15. As the March 29, 2026 consultation deadline approaches, a growing number of major organizations have published formal positions on Alto HSR and the legislative framework enabling it. This page gathers primary-source links for quick reference. Links verified March 10, 2026. This page is maintained by the Alto HSR Citizen Research Initiative. If a link has changed, please contact us.Stakeholder Statements on Alto High-Speed Rail
Rideau Waterway Land Trust
Letter to the Editor: Opposition to the Proposed Southern Route
To the editor,
Rideau Waterway Land Trust (RWLT) has helped the community protect environmentally sensitive lands in the Ottawa–Kingston corridor for over 30 years. Most of the properties we steward were donated by landowners or purchased with the support of community donors. RWLT pledged to protect these lands in perpetuity, often under strict terms of the federal Ecological Gifts Program.
The attached map (below) shows that 17 of the Trust’s 25 properties fall within the southern route of the proposed Alto high-speed rail corridor. If this route proceeds, the impacts could be significant. Lands the community invested in, in good faith, to preserve forever may face ecosystem degradation or even expropriation. This concern is heightened by the dense cluster of conserved properties in the Rideau Lakes area, which creates a natural choke point of sensitive lakes and protected wetlands — conditions unsuitable for high-speed rail.
17 of 25 RWLT Nature Reserves fall within the proposed southern route. The concentration of conserved properties in the Rideau Lakes area creates a natural choke point of sensitive lakes and protected wetlands. View map in original letter →
A critical land bridge in North America
RWLT’s lands are part of a broader network that creates connectivity with properties protected by governments, conservation authorities, non-profits, and other land trusts. Organizations such as A2A and FABN have spent decades strengthening ecological connectivity in the UNESCO Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve. This region forms a critical land bridge between Algonquin and Adirondack Parks — one of the last intact forest corridors in North America — and contains one of Canada’s highest concentrations of species at risk, with more than 50 at-risk species found here.
The southern route should be abandoned or substantially rerouted
Rail service that reduces greenhouse gas emissions is a laudable goal, but the southern route risks creating a new barrier across this landscape. Mitigation measures may be proposed, but the wildlife crossings required for a truly permeable corridor may be prohibitively expensive or infeasible. Given the environmental impacts, the southern route should be abandoned or substantially rerouted. We urge the federal government not to let expediency lead to poor decisions that result in the degradation of critical habitats and wildlife corridors.
View the consultation map and submit your concerns: Alto’s Interactive Consultation Map
Public consultation closes March 29, 2026. Every submission becomes part of the official record.
Published in Kingstonist, March 6, 2026
This letter was originally published in Kingstonist. RWLT has protected environmentally sensitive lands in Eastern Ontario for over 30 years. Read the original letter →