Federal Government Eyes Kingston Stop in Revised High-Speed Rail Route

The Liberal government is considering a major route change to Canada’s proposed Alto high-speed rail line that would add a stop in Kingston, Ont., shifting part of the corridor southward toward the shore of Lake Ontario following a public consultation process.

What’s Being Proposed

Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced Monday in Kingston that the federal government has directed Alto to evaluate an additional stop in the city — a potential significant departure from the original plan. MacKinnon said he was “acting on what we heard” during three months of public consultations held in roughly two dozen communities this year.

The original Quebec City–Toronto route, announced late last year, included planned stops in Trois-Rivières, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa and Peterborough. So far, the federal government has mandated seven stops: Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Laval, Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City.

Alto has put forward two route options. The first is a near-straight line between Peterborough and Ottawa. The second is a southern track that brings the line to within a half-hour’s drive of downtown Kingston. MacKinnon said his office would take “a very, very, long, strong and positive look” at the southern option, while stressing no final decision has been made.

The Case for Kingston

According to Alto, adding a Kingston stop would cut travel times between the city and Toronto roughly in half, to approximately 90 minutes. The southern route would also allow the vast majority of residents between Peterborough and Ottawa to reach a station within a 30-minute drive.

MacKinnon said the review was informed not only by public feedback but also by consultations with Indigenous communities conducted between October 2025 and June 2026 along the Toronto–Quebec City corridor.

Kingston city council had previously passed a motion calling on the transport minister to add a Kingston-area stop to Alto’s mandate, and had expressed opposition to the project if no such stop were included. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also previously backed a southern route along the 401 corridor with a Kingston stop.

A Massive and Contentious Infrastructure Project

The Alto project envisions a roughly 1,000-kilometre all-electric rail line with trains reaching speeds of 300 km/h, at an estimated cost of between $60 billion and $90 billion. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants construction to begin within four years.

Construction of the first phase — linking Montreal and Ottawa — is scheduled to begin in 2029 or 2030, serving as an initial test case for the broader corridor.

The project has faced sustained opposition since its announcement. A grassroots coalition of farmers and small-town residents, particularly in rural eastern Ontario and in Mirabel, Que., has raised concerns about land expropriations and the line’s impact on agricultural properties and communities.

The Budget 2025 Implementation Act included amendments to the Expropriation Act and related legislation to accelerate the federal government’s ability to acquire land for the railway — changes that have deepened opposition among affected landowners.

MacKinnon, who described himself as coming from a farming family, acknowledged the emotional weight of expropriation. “We will not cut corners when it comes to respect; we will not cut corners when it comes to sensitivity,” he said, adding that his preference would be to secure a federal right-of-way rather than full expropriation wherever possible.

Critics Question the Process

The prospect of an eighth stop drew immediate backlash. Protesters demonstrated outside the Isabel Bader Centre in Kingston where MacKinnon made his announcement, and blocked the exit before police were called to disperse the crowd.

Christian Hébert, president of Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles, questioned the project’s planning rigour. “This Alto project is improvisation,” he wrote in a social media post, arguing that Kingston should have been included from the outset if the project rested on a sound business case.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking in Vancouver, dismissed the project’s viability. “If this project ever gets built it will be 15 years from now and it will cost every family $8,000 in higher taxes,” he said, arguing the funds would be better spent cutting taxes, including the GST on used vehicles purchased through dealerships.

The Parti Québécois has also opposed the project, joining federal Conservatives and rural advocacy groups in criticizing the rail corridor as costly to taxpayers and disruptive to the communities it would pass through.

MacKinnon defended the evolving route, saying the proposed change reflects a clear community preference that emerged through consultation. “This is a strong indication of preference for one route over another,” he told reporters — while reiterating that the final decision has yet to be made.

Family Seeks Government Support for Overseas Treatment

A British Columbia mother is appealing to the provincial government for funding to send her son abroad for treatment of a rare illness, in a case that highlights the limits of Canada’s public healthcare system when patients require specialized care unavailable domestically.

The details of the family’s situation, including the specific illness and the country where treatment would be sought, were not fully available in the source material provided. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

A Gap in Provincial Coverage

Cases like this one raise broader questions about how provincial health systems handle rare diseases that fall outside the scope of covered services. In Canada, healthcare is administered at the provincial level, meaning coverage decisions — including whether to fund out-of-country treatment — rest with provincial governments.

Families facing such circumstances often find themselves navigating a complex and emotionally exhausting appeals process, with no guarantee of a successful outcome.

What Comes Next

The mother’s public plea adds pressure on B.C. health authorities to respond. Advocates for rare disease patients have long called for clearer provincial policies governing access to experimental or overseas treatments.

This article will be updated as additional details emerge from the family and the B.C. government.

Competition Bureau Launches Probe Into Food Supply Chain to Address High Grocery Prices

Canada’s Competition Bureau has announced a broad investigation into how competition — or the lack of it — across the entire food supply chain may be driving up grocery prices for consumers.

Three Key Areas Under the Microscope

The bureau says it will focus its examination on three critical stages of the food supply chain: production and processing, transportation and distribution, and retail pricing practices.

That means scrutinizing competition from the moment seeds are planted on farms or livestock are raised on ranches, through to processing, loading onto trucks, and delivery to wholesalers and distributors.

Retail Practices Also in the Crosshairs

The investigation will also examine how food items are priced on store shelves and how consumer-facing tools — such as loyalty programs — shape purchasing behaviour.

Not a Formal Market Study

The bureau is careful to distinguish this effort from a formal market study. Officials describe it as a broad diagnostic exercise to identify where intervention is needed and what actions policy-makers can take to improve affordability.

Jeanne Pratt, interim commissioner of competition, said the cost of food matters to all Canadians and that strong competition can help keep prices in check. She is also calling on industry stakeholders to share their experiences with the bureau.

Building on 2023 Findings

The investigation builds on the bureau’s 2023 retail grocery market study, which concluded that greater competition in the sector could help lower prices and spur innovation.

A final report, expected to be published next spring, will include findings and recommendations to governments on how competition could be improved across the full food supply chain.

Canada Expected to Dodge FATF ‘Grey List’ After International Financial-Crime Review, Sources Say

Canada is on track to avoid being placed on a global watchlist of countries with weak financial-crime controls, according to two sources familiar with an ongoing international review of the country’s anti-money-laundering regime. The preliminary findings come as assessors from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) hold their plenary session in Paris this week.

What Is the FATF and Why Does It Matter?

The FATF is a 40-member intergovernmental body that sets global standards for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. It conducts in-depth evaluations of member countries and publishes the results. Canada also belongs to the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a related 42-member regional body that is co-participating in this review.

Countries that fail FATF evaluations are placed on one of two lists. Those with serious deficiencies land on the “black list” — currently home to Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. Those with lesser but significant shortcomings are placed on the “grey list,” which currently includes more than 20 jurisdictions such as Kuwait, Monaco, the British Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

Grey-listed countries face heightened international scrutiny of their banks, legal systems and supply chains. That scrutiny can deter foreign investment, disrupt trade and negatively affect a country’s sovereign credit rating.

Preliminary Ratings Suggest Canada Is Safe — For Now

Canada’s provisional ratings, assigned by the evaluation team ahead of this week’s Paris plenary, appear sufficient to keep the country off the grey list, the sources told The Globe and Mail. The sources were not identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The review has not yet concluded, and preliminary findings remain subject to change. The FATF is expected to publish its final report in September or October. Officials at the Department of Finance have received a confidential draft of the assessment’s initial findings.

Both the FATF and the Department of Finance declined to comment on specifics. “The FATF mutual evaluation process is a robust and iterative process in order to ensure a complete picture,” FATF spokesperson Stefanie Mair wrote in an email. “Conclusions should therefore not be drawn until that process is complete.”

Key Weaknesses Identified in the Review

Despite the relatively positive outlook, assessors flagged several areas of concern.

Canada Lobbying for Better Ratings

Canadian officials are expected to hold in-person discussions with the assessment team before a final draft is shared with all FATF delegations later this week. Sources say Ottawa will push to have some provisional ratings upgraded.

The government is also pointing to recent policy announcements as evidence of progress. These include the creation of a Financial Crimes Agency, a proposed ban on cryptocurrency ATMs and the development of a national anti-fraud strategy.

Enhanced Follow-Up Remains a Possibility

Even if Canada avoids the grey list, it could still face enhanced follow-up from the FATF — a less desirable outcome that requires more frequent reporting on remedial actions, though it typically has no direct impact on a country’s banks or financial system.

Canada was previously placed in the FATF’s enhanced follow-up process after its last evaluation in 2016. It returned to regular reviews in 2021 after enacting corrective measures. Securing regular reviews again is considered a point of national pride, and Finance officials are expected to resist any push for enhanced follow-up, the sources said.

The FATF plenary runs from June 17 to 19 in Paris. Canada’s evaluation will then be discussed at an Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering meeting in July.

With a report from Bill Curry