FRONTENAC, Quebec — The town of Frontenac has voted in resounding fashion against the planned bypass to remove Canadian Pacific’s rail line from Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, but the results of the referendum apparently will not change the plans for the project.
The CBC reports 92% of those in the community of 1,600 who cast ballots in the Sunday, Feb. 19, referendum on the bypass project voted “no.” But, after lengthy negotiations, Canada’s Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, announced earlier this month that that the government would begin the process of expropriating land — claiming it from the property owners through legal proceedings — saying “we must move forward” with the bypass project [see ”Canadian government begins process to acquire land …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 14, 2023].
“We must not lose sight of the core objective, eliminating trains traveling through downtown Lac-Mégantic,” Alghabra said then.
The rail line already passes through part of Frontenac, but the bypass will relocate it to a different area in order to move the route north of Lac-Mégantic. Some 43 landowners in Frontenac will be affected, and have expressed concerns about the environmental impact, as well as concerns over low compensation for their land and how they will access property divided by the rail line.
They also feel the government has paid little attention to their concerns.
“Transport Canada doesn’t care at all for the human distress which this dossier has been causing,” Frontenac resident Roger Venne told the CBC.
NIMBYS! I guess higher eminent domain proceeds will eventually persuade the 43 effected property owners to change their minds. But, it will awhile. The remaining 1,557 should look at the issue regionally and yield to what the majority of Lac Megantic want.
So much for the will of the people.
Classic case of “Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t’…
Give the town a choice: either build the bypass or leave the line where it is.
Ray, the problem is we are talking about two different towns/cities with two different local governments and thus 2 different sets of voters.
Well, I could say this: leave the railroad where it is. (I fully understand if Lac-Megantic people would feel differently.) By definition, railroads go through cities. Else, they’d be giant corkscrews taking twice the distance to get anywhere. And eating up half the farmland.
Yes they go through cities as they once served them. However more and more cities no longer have the benefit of or have the factories that need the services. Granted based on the map, it looks like the railroads will still have access to the center of Lac-Megantic, so your point in this case makes some sense.
As a certain Anakin once said,”Hold on, this whole operation was your idea”. (I believe I read a Trains Magazine magazine of recent train derailments that included Lac-Megantic and that the residents of Lac-Megantic wanted the tracks moved away from town)
It’s two different towns, adjacent to each other. One larger, one smaller.
Lac Megantic has a population of 5600, Frontenac has 1600 and is barely a town.