Cancel Alto high-speed rail
Petitioners ask the Government of Canada to cancel the Alto high-speed rail project and redirect investment to smarter, lower-cost upgrades to existing transportation, noting Alto's estimated $60–90 billion cost and local impacts.
Why we would sign this petition
- Cancelling would avoid committing $60–90 billion to a project with uncertain final costs and a history of major infrastructure overruns.
- It would reduce the risk of decades of government operating subsidies and annual interest payments that could equal or exceed projected revenues.
- It would prevent disruptive expropriations and respect municipalities along the route while allowing investment in targeted, lower‑cost improvements to existing services.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Alto could still deliver substantial travel-time and connectivity improvements within the corridor that would benefit frequent users and regional mobility.
- Supporters may argue that long-term economic, planning or environmental gains justify high upfront costs and that cancelling sacrifices potential future benefits.
- Cancellation could foreclose options; a phased, scaled-back or redesigned Alto might capture benefits while reducing risk instead of an outright stop.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
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. We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to cancel the Alto high-speed rail project and focus on projects that will provide better value and lower risk to Canadians.
Government response
No government response is available yet.