FRONTENAC, Quebec — The results of a Sunday referendum showing strong opposition to the proposed Lac-Mégantic bypass mean the municipality of Frontenac will do everything it can to fight the rail-line relocation, Frontenac’s mayor said Monday.
Mayor Gaby Gendron told the Canadian Press “it’s absolutely certain the municipal council will oppose the project by all possible and legal means.”
The municipality confirmed Monday that 92.5% of the nearly 700 eligible residents voted against the project [see “Quebec town votes against …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 20, 2023]. It seeks to reroute a Canadian Pacific line out of neighboring Lac-Mégantic, where 47 people were killed by a derailment and fire in 2013, when the rail line was owned by the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic.
The bypass project was announced in 2018 but work has yet to begin, after lengthy delays while the Canadian government attempted to negotiate land purchases needed for the new route. Facing entrenched opposition, Transport Canada said in January that it was ending negotiations, with Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announcing earlier this month that the government would begin the process of expropriating the needed land [see “Canadian government begins process …,” News Wire, Feb. 14, 2023].
Frontenac is one of two communities adjacent to Lac-Mégantic that will be affected by the line relocation. Nantes, to the west, passed a resolution against the project in January.
Lac-Mégantic Mayor Julie Morin said in a statement that her town council does not wish to interfere in other towns’ choices, but that “for the population of Lac-Mégantic, the need for construction of the railway bypass remains, both for the safety of citizens and for social recovery.” She urged the federal government to include the maximum number of mitigation measures to mimimize the impact of the project on local residents.
Share this article
