When Mark Carney and his ministers talk about nation-building projects, they always emphasize respecting Indigenous rights and ensuring there is a “dialogue.” But non-Indigenous people from Turtle Island are finding a different reality, according to critics of the proposed Alto high-speed rail project from Toronto to Quebec City.
Farmers, businesses and homes in the path of the project are facing forced expropriations and a truncated appeal process before a single track has been laid. By amending the Expropriation Act, the prime minister has created a two-tier consultation process: one where the rights of the Indigenous community are respected and another where the rights of other people are trampled over, says columnist Michael Higgins.
Carney's Call to 'Get Out of the Way'
When Carney talked about nation-building projects last September, he said that to build quickly meant “getting out of the way.” He was referring to government regulations, but he could easily have been speaking to the more than 100 communities in the path of the Alto high-speed rail. “For too long the construction of major infrastructure in Canada has been stalled by arduous, inefficient approval processes, uncertainty, red tape, duplication and complicated review processes,” said Carney.
The prime minister tried to reduce those problems with C-15, a controversial, massive omnibus bill that also stripped people of some of their property rights. C-15 amended the Expropriation Act, making it faster and easier for the federal government to take people’s homes, lands and farms if needed for the rail project.
Elimination of Negotiation and Appeal Rights
Before the amendments, the federal government would first have to try to negotiate with landowners for their property. If those negotiations failed, the government could then try expropriation. This requirement has now been removed. If the Carney Liberals decide they want the land for high-speed rail, they can take it.
The Alto website says property acquisition will be built around “negotiated agreements, and clear communication with property owners.” It adds, “our process is designed to be structured, transparent, and responsive to individual circumstances.” “The compensation offer will be informed by independent professional appraisals that reflect the market value of the property at the time of negotiation,” says Alto. But nobody, including the Liberals, is under any illusion that forced expropriations will not be necessary and won’t go ahead.
Transport Canada Anticipates Expropriation as Essential
“Transport Canada anticipates that expropriation will be an essential tool to acquire the necessary lands,” reads a government notice about the effects of C-15. It used to be the case that if a railway company wanted to expropriate land, they needed the consent of the Governor General. Not any longer. All it takes now is a ministerial sign-off.
The most brazen act by the Liberals was to undermine people’s right to appeal. Previously, affected people had the right to a public appeal hearing. This has been eliminated entirely. Now, those wishing to appeal can lodge their objections with the minister of transport — the same person committed to pushing through the Liberals' pet project.
