e-7458 (Transportation)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• The Alto high-speed rail project is estimated to cost approximately between $60 billion and $90 billion, or up to roughly $9,000 per Canadian family of four;
• The actual construction and emissions costs to build Alto are presently unknown, and will not be known until after disruptive and costly steps have occurred, including expropriation of property along the route;
• History suggests high-speed rail projects in general, and similar major infrastructure projects in Canada and analogous jurisdictions in particular, have typically cost substantially more than planned, taking much longer to complete than anticipated;
• Alto’s public business case is based on best-case annual cost and ridership revenue projections, exposing Canadian taxpayers to large financial risks;
• The annual interest payments to finance Alto’s construction are likely to equal or exceed Alto’s annual revenues, even under its own best-case projections;
• Alto is likely to require large, annual government operational subsidies for decades;
• Alto will not be in full operation until 2037 at the earliest;
• Many municipalities through which Alto will pass, without stopping or benefitting them, have expressed opposition to the project;
• Alto will serve an already well-serviced transportation corridor and provide little to no benefit to Canadians outside that corridor, or to those who do not use it; and
• Canadians will be better served by the government making smarter, less costly, less disruptive, and more limited investments to improve existing services and infrastructure.