Overview
- Bill C-15 embeds a High-Speed Rail Network Act to accelerate impact assessments and speed expropriations for the Toronto–Quebec City corridor.
- The draft law would give Ottawa a right of first refusal on targeted properties, void qualifying third-party sales, and allow bypassing the usual purchase-first step before expropriation.
- A Toronto expropriation lawyer says the plan could trigger the largest number of property takings in modern Canada, and the Montreal Economic Institute warns the approach weakens homeowner safeguards.
- Transport Canada says the measures align federal rules with Ontario and Quebec law to reduce duplication and achieve regulatory efficiencies for a project of this scale.
- The Alto program is scoped at nearly 1,000 kilometres with trains around 300 km/h and a $60–$90 billion cost, with the Cadence consortium selected to lead planning and a target to cut the construction start to four years.