Building Hwy. 413 is the 'antithesis' of what ought to be done, says activist

'I think why it resonates with so many people is because it's about our future'

Thestar.com
Jan. 6, 2022
Dina Al-Shibeeb

With Toronto and Markham joining the list of cities voicing their opposition to the proposed Highway 413, activists are urging the province to treat climate change as an emergency and to stop the highway.

The new highway promises to cut commute time amid pending traffic gridlock complaints especially in the 905; however, a recent poll shows local residents do not want to see parts of the protected Greenbelt, which the new corridor inevitably will go through in northern Vaughan, paved over.

"I thought since the beginning why the (proposed) highway has resonated with so many people,” Irene Ford, a Vaughan activist said. “I think why it resonates with so many people is because it's about our future.

“The highway is really the exact opposite of what research tells us about the subject matter; what experts tell us. They tell us it's just going backward at a time when the climate emergency is no longer a debate, but it is here.

“We are living it,” she added.

The federal data released in spring this year showed that GHG emissions from Ontario have shot up in 2018 after dwindling down for many years before this. It’s the year when the Progressive Conservative-led government was elected and immediately slashed cap-and-trade along with the billions of dollars per year it brought in funding for programs to cut GHG emissions.

She cited land-use planning decisions that are forced on municipalities such as the highway are also creating divides. While Vaughan, King, and Markham have all officially rescinded their support to the highway, York Region is backing it.

This year also marked a record of rainfall in Ontario, and the British Columbia wildfires galvanized attention to climate change.

“I have never seen as much concern about the climate issue as I have in the last few months,” said Gideon Forman who is a transportation-policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation.

“We've seen so much extreme weather, climate change has never felt closer to us here in Canada,” Forman said.

He also noted climate change crept as a major issue in the 2021 federal election, and the major parties included it in their platforms.

For Forman, the highway is the antithesis of what ought to be done to mitigate climate change since it will “incentivize more car use.”

“So more people will be driving, and that's increasing greenhouse gas emissions. And the second thing is it paves over the Greenbelt. But what is the Greenbelt? It is trees, forests. And those trees take in carbon so that they can help us to protect us from climate change.”

It is no wonder that a new poll -- conducted by EKOS for the David Suzuki Foundation -- shows that the majority of Ontarians do not want to see the proposed corridor go through, including areas that are told that it will help with their commute.

After interviewing 830 people at random, the poll also reveals Ontarians want their provincial government to consider climate change as an emergency.

The poll found about 75 per cent of Ontarians want the government to treat climate changes as an emergency.

But when it comes to York Region and Toronto, here are some of the poll findings:

About 71 per cent in Toronto and 65 per cent in the 905 area said that the provincial government has done a poor job in protecting the environment.

About 74 per cent in Toronto and 69 per cent in the 905 believe that the Greenbelt deserves more protection.

About 82 per cent in Toronto and 74 per cent in the 905 agree that the province should treat climate change as an emergency.

As for the Greenbelt being no place for a new four-lane highway, about 78 per cent in Toronto agree and 74 per cent agree in the 905.