UPA asks Ottawa to suspend Quebec City to Toronto high-speed rail project
Posted September 15, 2026 7:17 am.
The Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) is formally asking the federal government to suspend the high-speed rail (TGV) project intended to connect Quebec City and Toronto.
Agricultural producers’ opposition to this project is not new. However, the UPA has taken a further step by writing to the federal Minister of Transport, Steven MacKinnon, asking him to apply the brakes on this matter.
In the letter sent last Friday, the president general of the UPA, Martin Caron, questions the benefits that would accompany a Quebec-Toronto TGV and raises many concerns about the cost of the project.
Caron adds that a high-frequency train (HFT), which would use reserved tracks in existing rights-of-way, would also provide “significant gains in reliability, frequency and travel time, at a lower cost than the TGV”.
In the opinion of the UPA, the federal government must “immediately” suspend the project and all interventions by the Crown corporation Alto on the ground.
The UPA believes it would be relevant to commission an independent TGV–TGF comparison “covering all costs, risks of overruns, ridership, time savings, economic benefits, territorial impacts as well as opportunity cost.”
“Too many signs suggest that the costs announced so far are greatly underestimated. The Canadian government must act responsibly and get to the bottom of this issue before going any further,” Caron summarized in a statement Tuesday morning.
To support its argument, the UPA commissioned a survey from the firm Synopsis to report on perceptions of the TGV project in Quebec.
This study reveals that support for the high-speed rail project drops from 69 per cent to 59 per cent once participants receive a detailed presentation of the project. Conversely, support for a potential high-speed rail line increases from 67 per cent to 73 per cent after a detailed presentation.
“The Canadian government, in addition to commissioning an independent study on the construction and operating costs of the high-speed rail line, must also question the wisdom of imposing on Quebecers a project that clearly does not align with their priorities. Hundreds of rural communities along the route would breathe a sigh of relief,” concluded Caron.
The cost of the high-speed rail project is currently estimated by Alto at between $60 and $90 billion, but some experts believe this range could be difficult to achieve. Construction on the first section, between Montreal and Ottawa, is scheduled to begin as early as 2029.
The Synopsis survey was conducted from August 12 to 17 among 1100 Quebec respondents. As it was carried out online with a panel, no margin of error can be attributed to it.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
