Gerretson and NIMBY R Us

It is hard to say what Mark Gerretson was thinking when he put up a grainy post, just after Alto surprised a lot of people by including a potential “southern corridor” through Eastern Ontario, for the high-speed rail service they are developing.

Until that time, the expectation was that the other potential corridor, one located near or north of Highway 7, would be definitively earmarked as the corridor through the region.

In his video, Gerretson said that the fact that Alto is considering constructing a fenced in rail line that cuts through South Frontenac, in between Inverary and Buck Lake, along Perth Road, and Stars Corners and Verona on Road 38, represents an opportunity for Kingstonians to access the service, because it will be only a short distance north of the City.

His video offered no details as to when or how he thinks this access will come about, as Alto has made it clear it is building a railroad that will not stop between Ottawa and Peterborough.

Gerretson is a member of the Liberal government that is the political force behind the entire project. That makes him the most likely person in Eastern Ontario to be aware of any hidden plans to expand the scope of this railroad to play a role connecting smaller cities and towns to major urban centres, with the Alto rail service. Maybe he knows something that no one else seems to be aware of, something that contradicts what Alto and his own government have been saying about the high-speed rail project.

The fact is that Kingston has been bypassed by this project.

Whatever his intentions, Gerretson's intervention did not exactly drum up support for the southern corridor as he intended. In fact, it did the opposite.

It became a wake-up call for South Frontenac residents.

South Frontenac has been the first community to react to the prospect of a rail line running across its land mass.

And the reaction has been understandably strong, because Alto represents a very real threat to a number of communities. The Save South Frontenac Committee’s email address sums the group’s intentions up succinctly: [email protected].

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal and Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson have never worked particularly closely with each other in the past. They have differed on funding for Fairmount Home, and an attempt to work together on an agro-tourism initiative failed miserably.

But on this matter, there has been fast agreement. Mayor Paterson realised that only if Alto comes into Kingston, and there is an Alto station in town, will it be of any benefit to his residents. Kingston City Council and South Frontenac Township Council passed motions last week establishing a common position.

If the Alto line runs through Kingston instead of South Frontenac, and there is a stop, it will be supported. If both of those things don’t happen, both councils will oppose it.

This is a convenient position for South Frontenac Council, because it is in tune with what they and their constituents want, even though Alto is not seeking and does not require their support.

The reality is, however, that the only alternative to a southern corridor for Alto is a northern corridor. If it does not pass through South Frontenac, the rail line would go along or north of Highway 7, disrupting communities in Central or North Frontenac. South Frontenac has worked closely with Central and North Frontenac for decades, but they are asking to be spared the harm.

When they met last week, North Frontenac Council looked at the South Frontenac motion that had been forwarded to them for support, and rejected the clause about a stop in Kingston, as a worthless fantasy.

They passed a motion saying they did not want the line to come through North Frontenac. But, they also plan to explore if there can be any local benefit if Alto puts the line through their township, and if there is any way to find a route that does the least amount of damage to the township’s greatest assets, its lakes and local hamlets.

Everyone knows that Alto will have to find a way through, and the route that is chosen will hurt the people who live nearest to the rail line.

The reaction of local politicians, and local communities, reflects as much on expectations as anything else. In North Frontenac, this has been expected for about ten years, when the first conversations about a new rail project surfaced. In South Frontenac, it has only been three weeks, so people are still in shock.

The Alto line might be a great thing for the Canadian economy, the environment, Quebec-Ontario relations, etc. But its benefits will go to urban Ontario and Quebec.

The rural communities that Alto runs through will see no benefit, only disruption