Hwy. 413 protesters in King advocate for greenbelt protection

Thestar.com
March 22, 2021

For Vaughan resident Alexandra Ney, the issue of building Hwy. 413 hits really, really close to home.

Like 500 metres close.

She has been told part of the highway will be built 500 metres from her house.

So, Ney describes herself as a resident “who will be greatly affected” if Hwy. 413 is built.

She was first in a line of protesters along King Road Saturday afternoon. Her sign: “Stop the 413. Invest in public transit not another mega highway. Take action at stop413.ca.”

The protest was organized in part by Concerned Citizens of King Township as well as other citizens not in the group. The protest involved sign waving and general attention-getting along King Road outside MPP Stephen Lecce’s office in King Township.

It was one of multiple flash mobs organized across GTA by StopTHe413 Community Groups.

While the highway is going to affect a lot of people, few are being listened to as they should be, Ney said.
“Very little information is being given to us,” she said. We’ve been attending meetings where I feel they talk at us. They’re not really having input from the community.”

Ney says she is hoping that the government will pick different alternatives to Highway 413 -- improving transit, using light rail transit, using Go transit and subsidizing the 407. “They say it’s underutilized,” she said.

Another protester -- Bruce Craig -- is with Concerned Citizens of King Township and says he’s on board to protect the greenbelt -- the largest greenbelt of its kind in the world.

“If this (the highway) goes through the middle of it (the greenbelt), it separates the farming networks some of the agricultural networks, many of the natural heritage systems. I understand if it goes ahead it will cross about 85 different streams and rivers along with many wetlands, forested areas,” he said.

A report released Aug. 2020 by Environmental Defence, Sustainable Vaughan and Transport Action Ontario, questions the idea of building the proposed GTA-West Highway, which would run from Highway 401/Highway 407 interchange near Milton, to Highway 400 near Kleinburg.

The highway proposal was cancelled in 2018, but then resurrected by the current government. The report says Hwy. 413 will damage the environment and offer little benefit for commuters.

Caledon resident Jenni Le Forestier accompanied by her German shepherd Luna was among the protesters Saturday.

“York is still stubbornly holding onto this idea of the highway so that’s why I decided to come over and give some support.”

Caledon’s mayor has pledged to write a letter to the prime minister, requesting that the federal government conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment on the proposed highway.

“I’m hoping politicians will listen to citizens when they are saying they don’t want this highway right now,” Le Forestier said.