The controversy over Ford’s proposed Highway 413 -- which would cut through 400 acres of protected Greenbelt

Theglobeandmail.com
May 26, 2022
Uday Rana

Jagroop Bhandal, 48, is proud of his ability to navigate anywhere in Ontario without a GPS. “These new kids may need Google Maps, but I’ve been here since 1999. I know these roads like the back of my hand,” said the Milton resident.

But his usual route, from Milton to Oshawa, looks very different today. “There was barely any traffic back in the day, now we’re driving bumper-to-bumper on the highway. It takes me three hours to cover a route that used to take one-and-a-half. Unless a new highway is built, things are going to keep getting from bad to worse,” he added.

Mr. Bhandal is referring to the proposed Highway 413 (also called the GTA West Corridor), a major election promise of Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford. The 60-kilometre proposed route that would connect Toronto suburbs Milton and Vaughan has caused heated debate about the best way forward to unclog southern Ontario’s traffic logjams.

A boost in immigration over the last decade has made the region of Peel, which consists of Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon, a major economic hub. Thousands of vehicles carrying goods and services from southern Ontario to the rest of the country pass through the province every day, making the region’s trucking community a key stakeholder in the fate of the 413. Roughly 68,000 vehicles transport goods through the region every day, and four out of nine jobs in Peel depend on the transport of goods.

The Ontario Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party have all said they would scrap the controversial project if voted to power, citing environmental and financial concerns. The Liberals and NDP have said that the highway would save commuters mere minutes -- not the 30 minutes that the Progressive Conservatives have claimed.

They say the reward would not be worth the environmental toll of the project, which could cost between $6-billion and $10-billion. Advocates have said the highway would pass through 160 hectares (400 acres) of the Greenbelt -- a protected area of forests and wetlands -- and through 800 hectares of farmland. It is estimated that it would add over 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

In Ontario’s political landscape, Mr. Ford finds himself alone in his support for the highway. Almost all major cities in and around the Greater Toronto Area -- Mississauga, Halton Hills, Vaughan as well as Peel Region -- have opposed the project.

Brampton city council voted on whether to withdraw its support of the highway, but the motion fell short of a two-thirds majority.

“This new highway would be a golden ticket for Brampton’s development,” said Manan Gupta, publisher of Road Today, a magazine that caters to the South Asian trucking industry in Canada. “There is a feeling here that Brampton has been ignored in the larger Ontario growth story.”

Minkle Mittal, CEO of Golden Freight, said his company regularly runs routes transporting steel from Hamilton to the Canadian Pacific Intermodal Station in Vaughan. “This isn’t just for commuters, it’s for people like us who are working to keep the Canadian economy afloat. This would mean we can cut down travel time significantly.”

Truck driver Jaswinder Singh, 46, added, “Everyone goes to the office, but for us the truck and the highway is the only office we have. At the end of the work day, I am exhausted. Driving in heavy traffic all day can take a massive toll on your physical health.”

Opponents of the highway have said the solution to southern Ontario’s bottlenecks lies in plain sight: Highway 407. The 150-km stretch of highway, which first became functional in 1997, circles the GTA. It covers roughly the same cities that the proposed Highway 413 would cover.

The highway was leased to a private conglomerate in 1999 for $3.1-billion under Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris. The high tolls put the highway out of reach for most truckers. Dharampal Sandhu, CEO of Brampton-based Friends Transport, said, “We would use the 407 if we could. It would make things so easy, but the tolls make it unaffordable for the industry.”

Transport Action Ontario, an advocacy group, has said subsidizing the 407 for trucks would better serve to clear Ontario’s immediate traffic problems. The 2018 environmental assessment report by the GTA West Corridor Advisory Panel made the same note, “Adding dedicated truck lanes to Hwy 407 and reducing truck tolls would likely deliver travel time savings similar to the proposed GTAW highway for all users, and for goods movement in particular.”

Mr. Ford’s opponents have all proposed alternate plans for the 413. Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca has promised to cancel the project altogether and spend the $10-billion on repairing schools in Ontario instead. However, the Liberal candidate for Brampton East, Jannat Garewal, later contradicted the party leader, saying that the Liberals would build the highway at a later date. NDP leader Andrea Horwath has said her party will clear the school repair backlog within 10 years instead of investing in a new highway. Ontario Greens Leader Mike Schreiner has proposed scrapping the 413 and opening up a dedicated trucking lane on the 407.

Mr. Mittal said, “If Highway 407 was accessible, why would we need to ask for another highway? It’s just lying there, mostly empty. But we can’t use it because of the cost. I can promise you, truckers are the biggest supporters of investment in public transit. More trains for commuters would mean more room on the highways for us.”

Later in the campaign, the NDP proposed something similar to the Green Party solution. The five NDP candidates from Brampton announced on May 19 that an NDP government would immediately end all tolls for trucks on the 407. “People in Brampton face long, gruelling, expensive commutes,” said Brampton East MPP Gurratan Singh. “Truck drivers who use the 407 are being gouged daily -- the money they shell out on tolls is money that should go to their mortgage or grocery bills.”

The NDP said it would use the money that the 407 Express Toll Route owes in penalties to pay for the toll subsidies. Transport Action Ontario estimated that subsidizing the 407 for 30 years would cost $4-billion.

But with the lease being held privately, opening up the highway for trucks will prove hard. “There is such a lack of vision in Canada. Why did they have to sell off Highway 407 for short term-gain? It ended up costing us far more in the end,” Mr. Bhandal said.

While Mr. Bhandal is a supporter of building Highway 413, he wonders whether that will be enough. “It will take at least 10 years, if not more, to build it. Who knows what traffic is going to look like then?”