Highway opposition predictable
Plays into premier’s hands
Doug Ford’s critics are fuming. The Ontario premier wants to build more highways. Highways, in this day and age! Can you imagine it?
Ford’s promise to build two new 400-series highways to better connect the developing regions that surround Toronto is being greeted with outrage by those who oppose cars, development and Ford — not necessarily in that order. The critics include all three provincial opposition party leaders, environmentalists and some media commentators.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca says the proposed Highway 413 will create sprawl, cost too much and take many years to finish. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is worried about farmland, the Greenbelt and the highway’s impact on climate change. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says the 413 will be “an economic and climate disaster” that will threaten food security by paving over farmland while increasing congestion due to induced demand and also “supercharge” emissions through urban sprawl.
Progressive people are as predictable as cuckoo clocks when it comes to opposing progress.
Economic growth enables more Ontarians to have a better life and it allows the provincial government to spend more on health care and social programs. Growth requires immigration, which creates the need for more houses and more roads to move people and goods. More jobs, more tax revenue and more opportunities for immigrants have traditionally been regarded as progress, and yet progressives think we can get those benefits without giving up something to get them.
Paving land that had some previous purpose would be a common feature of building any new road, but it’s no worse than what was done to create every street in Toronto and the GTA, including the streets progressive voters use to go to work or shop.
Yes, it’s true that the proposed new highways will be used by drivers of cars, that being the nature of a highway. It’s a bit puzzling to hear the Green Party leader talking about a climate disaster. These new roads won’t be in operation for a decade. Surely by then electric cars will dominate. What’s the issue?
One does have to raise an eyebrow when NDP and Liberal leaders oppose something on the grounds of it being too expensive. Good to know that they are aware of the concept, at least. The price for the two highways won’t be known until the work goes out to tender, but there is something we do know about highway spending. The Ford government’s budget update last week said capital spending on highways this fiscal year would be $2.6 billion, but transit will be $5.6 billion. Over 10 years, the disparity is even greater, with $61.6 billion in transit spending planned but only $22.9 billion on highways.
As righteous as public transit is, it doesn’t move goods to stores and homes and it isn’t effective at getting workers to widely dispersed job sites. That’s why transit spending needs to be balanced with some highway spending. Knowing that the population of the area around Toronto will continue to expand, it would be irresponsible not to do both.
Ford certainly isn’t apologizing for building highways, nor should he. As the premier put it at a media event for the 413 on Wednesday, “We live in a democracy. The majority of the people want this highway. We’re building the highway.”
No doubt it’s not just a happy coincidence that the proposed new highways are likely to be popular in York, Peel and Halton regions, where Ford’s PCS won 21 of 24 seats in the last election. Retaining most of those seats is critical to the PCS getting a majority in next June’s provincial vote. The other parties have certainly made that a lot easier for Ford by vehemently opposing the highways. As a bonus, Del Duca was the transportation minister when the Liberals abandoned the idea to build Highway 413 in 2018.
If the other parties think Ford’s highway plan will help them fight a climate change election, they could be seriously miscalculating. When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed his carbon tax on Ontario, climate change became a federal issue.
In addition, Canadians are becoming more realistic about climate change. An Angus Reid Institute poll this week shows that 69 per cent of Canadians are pessimistic about climate change being reversed. That’s scientifically realistic, unless your time horizon extends to several hundred years. Eighty-four per cent of those polled expected little real progress from the latest climate talks in Glasgow. Right again.
Canadians are skeptical about governments’ ability to curb climate change, but they know they need roads to drive on and affordable fuel for their vehicles. Expect to hear a lot more about that from Doug Ford.