Kingston signs non-disclosure agreement for high-speed rail talks

Kingston signs non-disclosure agreement for high-speed rail talks

Alto and the City of Kingston sign agreement to keep planning details confidential; critics say the agreement puts discussions out of the public view.

Author of the article:

Elliot Ferguson

Published Jul 14, 2026 • Last updated 7 hours ago • 3 minute read

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Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, right, stands next to federal Transportation Minister Steven MacKinnon as he announces the city would be considered for inclusion on the Alto high-speed rail project on Monday June 22, 2026 in Kingston, Ont. Photo by Elliot Ferguson /The Kingston Whig-Standard

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KINGSTON — The city signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Alto as part of the development of a high-speed rail line through the region.

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The NDA was signed Friday between the City of Kingston and Alto, the Crown corporation developing the project.

A non-disclosure agreement, often called a confidentiality agreement, is a legal contract meant to keep sensitive or proprietary information private.

On Monday, an Alto spokesperson said the information gathered during the public consultation period is being incorporated into the route planning and NDAs help protect the planning process and allow the company and local governments and organizations to work together better.

“As this planning work advances, our engagement with municipalities includes discussions that touch on early concepts, technical analysis, and emerging ideas that are still being refined,” Alto spokesperson Crystal Jongeward wrote in an email to The Whig-Standard.

“Non-disclosure agreements, used widely in the infrastructure industry, help structure these discussions, enable two-way data sharing around preliminary working assumptions and create an environment where evolving information can be shared to support more informed and productive collaboration on our planning,” Jongeward added.

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“Because our planning is not final, sharing early information without the full context could create confusion or give the impression that decisions have already been made.”

A city spokesperson explained that the NDA applies to all city staff and councillors who receive technical information from the Alto. The agreement was needed for the city to receive any technical information Alto, the spokesman added.

“This is not optional,” they added.

In a statement to the Whig-Standard, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson defended the agreement, saying municipalities along the study corridor have signed similar documents.

“These agreements are common in major infrastructure planning processes, allowing technical information to be shared so municipalities can provide informed input,” Paterson said. “The city has an important interest in understanding how a future high-speed rail network could serve our community and contribute to regional connectivity.”

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Paterson said the agreement is not an endorsement of a specific route or station location. Kingston has been lobbying to be included on the line with a station built in the city.

“(An NDA) ensures city staff can participate in discussions, review information and help represent the city’s interests as planning work advances,” Paterson said. “We continue to be committed to transparency throughout this process and will share information publicly when we are able to.”

In late May, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell east of Ottawa voted not to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and to deny Alto access to county-owned land for survey.

“Major infrastructure projects must be transparent, accountable and respectful of local communities from Day 1,” county Warden Mario Zanth, mayor of the City of Clarence-Rockland, said in a video the day after the vote.

Critics of the high-speed rail project used that council vote to pressure other municipalities resist the call to sign an NDA with the Crown corporation.

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Those critics said they worry municipalities are being pressured to sign the non-disclosure agreements before they receive any information from company.

A post on the Alto Citizen Research Initiative website outlined how widespread use of NDAs during development of the HS2 rail line in the United Kingdom limited how local governments could represent their constituents in an open and transparent way as the the project moved ahead.

“This is not a trust-building approach,” Andrew Hyett, one of the researchers behind the citizen research initiative, said. “It certainly does not portray transparency and will likely be challenged in the future.”