As one of his final significant acts as prime minister, Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would be building Alto — a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City. This was a momentous development for a country which has tried — and failed — to build high-speed rail several times over the last half-century.

As analysts noted at the time, while Trudeau’s announcement marked a step forwards for Canada in terms of joining its G7 peers, many hurdles remained before shovels would make their way into the ground. Recently, as Alto has begun a broad-scale public consultation effort, a new obstacle has emerged which is threatening the legitimacy of the project: the mobilization of opposition through social media networks. In fact, the rise of public opposition at such an early phase of the project signals the growing potential of project failure.

A new type of obstacle

Opposition has always hampered high-speed rail (HSR) development in Canada, yet the current social media era allows this opposition to mobilize in a more public and coordinated way. Historically, opposition typically manifested at the level of the decision-makers’ table, with concerns arising from the high costs of HSR development. Projects have been proposed several times in Canada, and in nearly every case plans were shelved once the full costs became apparent. While several wide-ranging estimates have been put forward for Alto, the most commonly stated price range today is between $60 and $90 billion.

One significant contributor to the costs of HSR is the requirement to acquire land and build specialized track infrastructure. Because the trains travel at very high speeds, entirely new dedicated tracks are required. Existing track infrastructure wouldn’t work, not least because it is primarily owned by freight rail companies. 

HSR tracks cannot traverse roads, and they have limitations in terms of how wide the turn radii must be for safety. This means that route planners will likely have to expropriate land to secure a right-of-way, in addition to building overpasses and tunnels to enable vehicles, people, farm machinery, and even wildlife to cross over or under the tracks safely.

The spectre of land expropriations, in turn, has sparked a public backlash in recent months. As part of its public consultation efforts, Alto released a map showing potential corridor routes (including a ‘’Northern’ and ‘Southern’ option for the segment between Ottawa and Toronto). Yet instead of specified right-of-ways, the map shows a wide swath of land under consideration — around 25km wide at times — even though the actual width of the track infrastructure would only be a few dozen meters.

Rather than reassure the public that their concerns about routing would be taken into account, the map appears to have unleashed a wave of fear and anger from cottagers, farmers and rural residents who own property within the corridor study boundaries — not to mention indigenous people who note the entire territory where the train line is proposed remains unceded land. Property owners have become increasingly concerned upon the tabling of Bill C-15 - the 2025 Budget Implementation Act, which incorporated proposed changes to Canada’s Expropriation Act. Specifically, if it passes as proposed, the changes would make it much easier for land to be expropriated for Alto, and affected landowners would have less recourse to appeals. 

Mobilization of protest

In response to these growing concerns, landowner and farmer groups have mobilized their opposition, first online and then on the streets. In late February, for instance, hundreds of farmers in the Mirabel area attended a protest calling for Alto to stick to established federal lands. One main concern of farmers arises from the new rules around land improvements proposed in the Expropriation Act. The proposal would allow Alto to issue a “Work Prohibition” notice blocking landowners from building up or improving their property (to avoid significant mark-ups on property values). Yet farmers worry this would effectively render their regular farm operations impossible.

Perhaps most surprising has been the torrent of social media backlash towards the project. At least nine English-language Facebook groups have been formed, most of which are explicitly against the project. One group, “ATL-NO - Residents Opposing the ALTO High Speed Rail” has several thousand members and has successfully mobilized anti-Alto protests in Ontario.

Mounting political pressure 

Not long ago, the idea of high-speed rail seemed to have obtained a relatively high level of public support in Canada, framed within the context of Canada modernizing its intercity passenger transportation system. While the Trudeau Liberals were contemplating ‘upgrading’ the proposed ‘High-Frequency Rail’ project to high-speed rail, even the Conservative Party offered tacit approval of the idea of HSR, with its 2023 Policy Declaration offering support for "innovative high-speed passenger rail where warranted.” When Prime Minister Carney came to power, the Alto project became subsumed within the broader framework of a ‘nation-building infrastructure project’ that would strengthen the Canadian economy in the face of US tariffs.

However, since the launching of Alto’s public consultation process, public discontent appears to be dominating the headlines about this project. In some cases, rural mayors and Members of Parliament have expressed their concerns or opposition to Alto. But perhaps the most poignant sign of success for social media mobilization came at the end of March, when Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre issued a public statement calling for the cancellation of the project, calling it a “boondoggle” and citing the need to “protect private property.” The public debate now appears to have found its way to the Senate, which is currently debating changes to the Expropriations Act proposed within Bill C-15 in relation to high-speed rail development. 

Ironically, the very process of public consultation was meant to increase buy-in and support for this project; yet the release of a map with a large unspecified area of study, combined with today’s oppositional social media landscape, has resulted in the opposite. While the idea of Canada joining its G7 peers as a high-speed rail nation recently compelled a majority of Canadians, the project now faces a new obstacle in the form of fears from property owners and organizing on social media. As a result, Alto risks losing public legitimacy early in the planning process, which could easily derail the project.

Ryan Katz-Rosene is an associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Political Studies, with cross-appointment to the Department of Geography, Environment, and Geomatics.

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