50,000 sign petition asking feds to block Ontario's Highway 413 project

A major environmental group is calling on the federal government to block Ontario's controversial Highway 413, saying the proposed 52-kilometre motorway would be costly to taxpayers and damaging to the environment.

The David Suzuki Foundation is asking the federal minister of environment, Steven Guilbeault, to intervene and stop the project through a petition that's racked up more than 50,000 signatures.

Gideon Forman, a climate change policy analyst with the foundation, says the highway — which would run from Highway 400 in York Region to Highway 401 in Halton Region — would incentivize more fuel-burning vehicles, pave thousands of acres of farmland and hundreds of acres of Greenbelt and threaten endangered species along the route.

"It's a colossal waste of money," said Forman, adding that public transit and other existing highways would serve as better means of transportation.

He says the project is expected to cost Ontario roughly $8 billion.

"For half the cost of Highway 413, we could basically fix the homelessness problem in this province," he added.

Project a risk to local species, group says

Advocacy organization Environmental Defence did an extensive environmental assessment of the project, concluding it would add over 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The organization's executive director, Tim Gray, says the previous Liberal government scrapped the project in early 2018 after a panel of experts it commissioned concluded it would do little to save commute time.

Despite this, Gray tells CBC News it's the risk to federally-protected species along the proposed route that warrants federal intervention.

"There are federal species at risk, dozens of them that would be impacted," he said.

He says federal law allows the environment minister to determine if a project can go ahead if its environmental impacts outweigh the benefits.

Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, the federal agency responsible for environmental assessments of major projects, confirmed to CBC News in an email that the then-federal environment minister designated the project in 2021, but the agency is still awaiting what's called an initial project description from Ontario's Ministry of Transportation.

The agency says the David Suzuki Foundation's petition and any other information from the public would be considered during the planning phase of the project, if that description meets the agency's requirements.

Province says highway could save half hour each way 

The government of Ontario declined to answer questions about the highway's costs, environmental impacts or the concerns of the petitioners.

A spokesperson from the Premier's office told CBC News in an email, "There was also a petition last summer by way of a provincial election in which nearly two million people voted for our government's plan to build Ontario, including Highway 413 and the largest public transit expansion in Canadian history."

The Ministry of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment.

A ministry website dedicated to Highway 413 says the project is currently in the second stage of an environmental assessment, "which includes identifying the route, determining interchange locations and completing preliminary design for the new corridor."

It also says the highway could save drivers up to 30 minutes each way.

Gray disputes that claim, saying the previous government's expert panel concluded it would only save about 30 to 60 seconds each way.

He says the highway would contribute to "induced demand" whereby new highways are immediately met by demand from drivers.

"Every time we add new lanes to Highways 401 or 400, very soon they fill up and then the gridlock is just as bad as it was before," says Gray

Peter Miasek, president of Transport Action Ontario, a provincial NGO focusing on sustainable transportation, says the logical way to relieve gridlock is to get people off highways by producing more public transit alternatives.

He says those alternatives include GO Transit expansions, a new line between Bolton and Caledon and a number of bus rapid transit and light rail transit projects.

"It's troubling to me as a transportation expert how the province continues to talk about the fact that this new highway will relieve gridlock," says Miasek, adding the concept of induced demand has been well proven but is nevertheless ignored by urban planners.

Groups see Highway 407 as alternative

Miasek acknowledges the province will need more transportation to accommodate the growing population, but says investing in rapid transit is the most cost-effective way to move people and reduce congestion.

He also says one of the government's justifications for the project — the need to move goods by transport truck — would be better served by allowing trucks toll-free access to the 407, a tolled highway running parallel to the proposed 413.

Besides, say Miasek and Gray, the public now owns the consortium with the 99-year lease on Highway 407 because the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board — a Canadian crown corporation — is now the majority shareholder.

Miasek says that makes Highway 407 ripe for a deal to reduce or eliminate tolls, adding the consortium has even signaled an interest in hearing an approach from the province.

"The highway itself is very much underused" says Gray.