September 24, 2019
Hon. Caroline Mulroney, MPP
Minister of Transportation
Government of Ontario
RE: Greater Toronto Area West Corridor Project (Highway 413)
The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods Ontario (FUN) deplores the Ontario government’s recent decision to reactivate the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Greater Toronto Area West Highway Corridor, the study area covering portions of York, Peel and Halton regions, which was suspended in 2015. This project if given the go-ahead, would cost billions of dollars, pave over prime farmland and part of the Greenbelt, increase water pollution and raise emissions that cause climate change.
The Project would represent the start of what is in essence a whole new 400 series highway system north of Toronto. This highway would encourage and facilitate an unprecedented level of urban sprawl in the GTA and would be at cross purposes to the government’s commitment to protection of the Greenbelt and its much needed expansion.
A government-appointed expert panel already concluded that the GTA-West Highway is not best solution for the region’s transportation needs, and instead recommended that new infrastructure, such as transit and utilities, be developed to support and accommodate future growth and development.
We request that your government reconsider this shortsighted decision.
Yours faithfully,
Geoff Kettel
President
c.c. Premier Doug Ford, MPP
Hon. Jeff Yurek, MPP, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Hon. Steve Clark, MPP, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Hon. John Yakabuski, MPP, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry
Hon. Ernie Hardeman, MPP, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Jennifer K. French, MPP, NDP Critic, Transportation and Highways John Fraser, Interim Ontario Liberal leader Resident Associations across Ontario