Mayors Talk Alto

At their respective council meetings last week, mayors Gerry Lichty (North Frontenac) and Ron Vandewal (South Frontenac) reported on meetings they each attended with Alto officials recently.

What they reported is consistent with what Alto President and CEO Martin Imbleau and the Federal Minister of Transportation, Steve McKinnon, have said recently as well, but with a bit of further detail.

Gerry Lichty said that when he asked if North Frontenac was “off the hook” he was told no, North Frontenac may still have Alto tracks running through, but, “I was told also that Alto is focused on pursuing a route through Kingston at the moment, which would mean it would not be coming our way.”

“However, if Kingston falls through, we would be back on the table.”

Lichty added that Joel Wiebe, the Alto rep that he and township staff met with, asked him if the township would be interested in pursuing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with North Frontenac, so that matters such as financial compensation and other details could be shared with township officials.

Lichty said he indicated North Frontenac was not interested, at this time, and he is not bringing the matter before Council.

Lichty said he also met with the group working with Lanark Frontenac Liberal candidate Michelle Foxton, which is proposing a southern Alto route that includes not only Kingston but Brockville and Belleville, as well.

“The people working on that proposal are looking at four potential routes, and they feel that if Alto does come back up north, the 506 corridor would be where they would want to go,” said Lichty.

“It is probably not coming here, but you never know. They expect to have the final route for the Montreal to Ottawa section early in 2027, and then route through Eastern Ontario later in the year.

South Frontenac Mayor Vandewal, along with other municipal officials, met with Alexis Doyle, an Alto senior advisor.

Vandewal reported to his council that Doyle said the Kingston station option is the focus for Alto in the coming months, and a determination if that is a go, as an option, is expected early next year.

“If they go to Kingston, because of the way the train needs to travel, they can’t come through South Frontenac. And, if they decide not to go through Kingston, then there will be no reason to come south and they will go for the northern corridor, so it looks good for us,” he said.

Vandewal said that he was told that Alto has not sent any letters of expropriation out, so any reports about expropriation letters are false. He added that Alto has made requests to enter private property to study potential routes, and if the answer was no, they do not enter those properties or send drones over them.

“South Frontenac has not been asked if we are interested in signing a non-disclosure agreement, which I take as a good sign,” Vandewal said.

He asked that information be posted on the South Frontenac website with information from the meeting be posted on the South Frontenac website to counter some of the misinformation circulating about the project.

“I asked Alexis if Alto could put something out that we can post, and I’m waiting for that” Vandewal said