Residents near Lac-Mégantic fighting new rail relocation that is 'destroying our lives'
CBC
Kurt Lucas's property in Frontenac, Que. has been in his wife Monique Lacroix's family since the 1970s.
Located five kilometres east of Lac-Mégantic, in the Eastern Townships, it's where they gathered as a family for decades, snowshoeing and skiing on their trails in the winter. It is where his father-in-law died.
But that 125-acre property is about to be expropriated to make way for a new railway track — a project Lucas says would literally cut their property in two.
"It's just a fun place to be but it's not so fun lately," said Lucas, who says he has trouble sleeping because of the stress.
"This is destroying our lives, but nobody talks about that, nobody cares. Again, we've received no support from the municipalities or from Transport Canada at all. So we have to do it ourselves, and it's really tough."
He is one of more than 43 property owners whose land will be expropriated by the government.
This comes nearly 10 years after the Lac-Mégantic train derailment, when a train carrying crude oil crashed into the centre of town on July 6, 2013, killing 47 people.
In the wake of one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history, the government committed to building a rail bypass system, to shift the rails away from the downtown core.
On Saturday, Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced the end of the negotiation process toward the purchase of land in Frontenac for the proposed bypass.
As a member of a coalition of 256 locals, Lucas says most property owners still oppose the route, which would not only negatively affect nearly 500 people but also cut farmland in two and, possibly, hurt the region's water supply.
On Feb. 19, the town of Frontenac will hold a referendum, with locals being asked a yes or no question: Do you approve of the project for a new rail bypass on the territory of Frontenac?
Lucas and his wife bought the property from her family back in 2013, six months before the Lac-Mégantic tragedy.
"We fell in love with it, and that's where we had planned on retiring," said Lucas. "Now we're looking at options — like maybe even completely selling."
The government approached owners in the region, with the intention of buying sections of their properties for the railway. In addition to leasing a section of their family property, the government wants to purchase a 125-metre wide, 143-metre long and 20-metre deep parcel, said Lucas.
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