My test for Alto: if it crosses our region, it has to serve our region.

If Alto gets built, where would somebody from Hawkesbury get on? On Alto's own list, the stations on the Ottawa to Montreal stretch, the first one it plans to build, are Ottawa, Laval and Montreal. No scheduled bus stops in this town today. So you would drive out of town to catch it, or you would not go at all. A fast train this region cannot reach does nothing for the people who live here.

Where I stand

I oppose Alto in its current form. In April, council voted to back the Counties' resolution, which backs the Eastern Ontario Wardens' Caucus resolution opposing the project "in its current form." A fast train can be good for a country when it serves the places it crosses. Alto's list has seven stations, and none of them is in Prescott and Russell. If the line ends up crossing our region, we would live with the disruption of the build and get none of the service. So I add one test to council's position.

My test

If the line crosses our region, our region gets a stop, or a real connection to one. Or, at the very least, a real bus link to a station on the line, on a schedule people can use. Residents here have already asked for a stop, and Alto's own consultation report records those requests. A line through our region that never serves it fails the test.

If the line crosses our region

A stop people from here get on

The minimum a real bus link to a station

A line through our region that never serves it fails the test

The straight answer: who decides to add a stop?

The federal government. Alto is a federal project, and the federal law behind it received Royal Assent in March. The federal government decides any station added to Alto's list. In June, Alto's chief executive said no place other than Kingston was being studied for an added station. No town can force a stop, and no mayor can promise you one.

In June, the federal government directed Alto to assess a route with a possible stop in Kingston. Alto's chief executive pointed to Kingston's economy, and Alto's board chair has said there is "a presumptively strong case" for Kingston, "but we still have to do the work." Kingston does not have a yes, and Alto does not expect a decision before spring 2027. What I take from it for us: put a specific case, in the open, in front of Alto and the federal government. That is the kind of case our region has to make, together.

What is known, and what is not

In Alto's own words, no route has been determined. It says a second round of public consultation, on a narrower corridor between Ottawa and Montreal, comes this fall; the dates and places are not out yet. Alto's chief executive says the exact line will probably be set around 2027. The exact sites of the Ottawa, Laval and Montreal stations are still open. Alto has not said where the line will go, and I won't guess. When Alto posts the consultation dates, I want every resident of this town to know them, and I'll be in the room at the sessions held in our region.

On our own ground

On its own ground, a town does have power, and I will use it. I will ask council to publish every request Alto makes of our Town, to come onto Town land, to survey, to use our roads, to sign an agreement: what was asked, when, and the answer. Where the province's access-to-information law requires the Town to hold something back, the list will say so and give the reason. And I will vote against any confidentiality agreement that hides a request from you. In May, the Counties' council voted down a motion to sign Alto's confidentiality agreement and let Alto onto county land for its studies. I agree with them. It is the same open door I promise in my council transparency plan, and the same rule I hold for the Town's books (point 5): if it touches your money or your street, you see it.

No Hawkesbury tax dollar should pay Alto's costs, on our roads or in our staff time. So my resolution asks council to put a condition on any permission or voluntary agreement the Town gives Alto for Town land or a Town road: Alto pays for the wear on the Town roads it uses under that permission or agreement, and for the staff time its requests take. Fixing our worst roads first is point 1 of my plan, and nobody should add to that list for free. I will hold firm on that at every table, at Town Hall and at the Counties.

I stand with the farmers around us on the process: no secret deals, every request in the open. And I add the one ask that would make the line serve us if it comes through: a stop, or a real way to reach one. Making that ask is ours to decide, and I will make it.

What I will do

Five moves. They add to the neighbours' table in the partnerships plan and to the link out in the transport plan, and take nothing away from either.

1. Council vote Every Alto request, published. In my first hundred days, I bring council one resolution. It directs staff to report every request Alto makes of the Town, whether it comes to council or to staff, at the next public council meeting, and to list it on the Town's website with what was asked, when, and the answer once it is given. Anything the law requires the Town to hold back is marked on the list, with the legal reason. It costs staff time. Done looks like: the resolution tabled and voted in public, and once it carries, a running list on the Town's website: what Alto asked, when, and the answer given.
2. Council vote Terms first: Alto pays for the wear on our roads and for our staff time. The same resolution asks council to put a condition on any permission or voluntary agreement the Town gives Alto: Alto pays for the wear and the repairs on the Town roads it uses under that permission or agreement, and for the staff time its requests take. It also requires a public council vote before anyone signs an agreement with Alto for the Town, a confidentiality agreement included. It costs staff time. Done looks like: the terms put to a council vote in public, and every agreement published with what Alto pays, under the same legal limit as the list.
3. My pen Alto on the neighbours' agenda. In my first hundred days, I put Alto on the agenda of the standing table I have already promised with Champlain, East Hawkesbury, Grenville, Grenville-sur-la-Rouge and the prefect of the MRC d'Argenteuil, and I will invite the Counties to the table. I hold one chair at that table, my own. What I can do is put the question in front of our neighbours in Ontario and Quebec and ask them to speak with one voice. It costs a room. Done looks like: Alto on the table's public agenda, the invitation sent to the Counties, and the notes published in both languages.
4. County motionCouncil voteApplication The region's case, made in the open. At the Counties, where Hawkesbury holds one seat of eight, I bring a motion asking the Counties to lead one written case for a stop in our region, or a real connection to one. I also ask our own council to back it by resolution, the way it backed the Counties in April. The case answers the questions any request for a stop has to answer: who would ride, where they would go, who it would serve, and what our region brings to the table. I bring the motion at the first Counties meeting I can. If the Counties vote yes, the case is written and published, then sent to Alto and to the federal government. It costs staff time, at the Counties and here. Done looks like: the motion on the Counties' agenda and voted in public, our council's resolution voted in public, and, if the Counties say yes, the case published in both languages, with every answer published when it comes.
5. ApplicationCouncil vote No stop? Then I ask for a real bus link, at the very least. If the answer on a stop is no, the case already names the minimum: a real bus link from Hawkesbury to a station on the line, on a schedule people can use, asked of Alto and the federal government as part of the project. The bus link also joins the link out in my transport plan, a council decision that waits for the riders to be counted. It costs staff time. Done looks like: the bus link named as the minimum in whatever case goes to Alto, and the answer published, yes or no.

What a mayor can and cannot do here

My whole platform runs on the real powers of the office.

What I cannot promise, and what I will try

I cannot promise you a stop. No mayor can. What I will try is to put the best case in front of the people who decide, as early as I can, rallying as many of our neighbours as possible. I cannot promise where the line goes. A town does not draw it. What I will try is to make sure that wherever the Town has a say, nothing is decided behind your back.

I cannot stop an expropriation. I cannot promise that Alto will never cost the Town anything either: some of its steps need no permission from the Town, and federal rules can split some costs without the Town's agreement. What I will try is this: every request Alto makes of our Town published, with what was asked, when, and the answer, as far as the law allows; no agreement signed behind your back; and no Town permission or voluntary agreement for Alto unless it pays for the road wear and the staff time it causes.

What I promise are the steps: the resolution brought to council in my first hundred days, Alto put on the neighbours' agenda, the motion brought to the Counties, the case in writing if the Counties agree, and the bus link named as the minimum. Every answer in public, including the noes.