Revill4Mayor

ALTO:  The impacts from a high-speed train passing through South Frontenac Township would be devastating, uprooting the lives of many folks, farmers, communities as well as the Frontenac Arch Biosphere and it remains top of mind for many residents. The federal government and Alto have not provided a comprehensive business case to support the project in my view, as well as considering whether other options would meet their objectives at a much lower cost.

At the moment there remains some uncertainty about how Alto will proceed, but here's what I know.

Save South  Frontenac and  Kingston Accommodation Partners  together hired two very experienced train consultants. They presented a report at the Storrington Centre on June 20th which I attended, for a route that would service Ottawa, swing down to Brockville and follow a corridor roughly parallelling Hwy 401 with stops in Brockville, Kingston and Belleville before going to Peterborough. This route would by-pass South Frontenac completely. I have been advised that this plan had been presented to the Minister of Transportation Steve MacKinnon prior to this meeting

Minister MacKinnon came to Kingston on June 22nd to announce that Kingston was to be officially considered as a stop  along the high-speed rail corridor. On Friday July 10th, Kingston announced that they had enetered into a non-disclosure agreement with Alto to discuss matters relating to a stop in Kingston.

On August 11th, South Frontenac council confirmed that they had not entered into a non-disclsure agreement with Alto and that the most southerely route serving Kingston was the preferred corridor according to Alto.

The corridor route from Ottawa to Toronto was expected to be announced in the late summer or eary fall and this has now been postponed  to January 2027, which I believe provides the time necessary for Alto to evaluate how to make the Kingston stop a reality. If the federal government is going to proceed with the high speed rail project, I  want it to stay out of South Frontenac and provide a stop in Kingston with the option to access the system.

I remain committed to advocate for our township citizens as your new mayor, personally, with municipal resources and regional partnerships to protect your interests.