TORONTO - The opposition parties are raising new concerns about road conditions on northern highways.

The governing Liberals are jeopardizing the safety of motorists by lowering the maintenance standards in their winter contracts, northern New Democrat Gilles Bisson said Wednesday.

Progressive Conservative Vic Fedeli, who represents the riding of Nipissing, is also looking for answers about winter road maintenance work.

Fedeli said he wants a coroner's inquest into the deaths of 10 people on northern highways -- all in the span of a week in late December and early January.

"Was it the weather, period, plain and simple? Was it road conditions, or is there some other anomaly that's happening with teenagers and winter driving?" Fedeli said.

"To lose that many in one very, very short period is very tragic."

Bisson, who first raised the issue of road conditions in the legislature, said the cash-strapped Liberals are trying to save money by reducing the number of plows on the road.

The government changed the terms of its plowing contracts to give companies less time to salt or clear highways, which means there's 25 per cent less equipment being used, he said.

Bisson said he wrote an open letter to Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli before Christmas, but hasn't received a response.

Other northern New Democrats are getting calls and emails from their constituents complaining about closed highways and poor road conditions -- and it's been a mild winter so far, he said.

"You normally get some complaints during the winter, but you never get the kind of complaints we're getting now," said Bisson, who represents the sprawling northeastern riding of Timmins-James Bay.

He said he's planning to launch a campaign in the next few days to collect information about highway conditions from the public in an effort to put pressure on the government to take action.

Fedeli said complaints about road conditions are the single largest issue his office has dealt with since he was elected three months ago.

He's meeting with the ministry on Thursday and said he expects officials to share the findings of their review into winter maintenance in the North Bay area, which he wants to be made public.

Chiarelli wasn't immediately available for comment, but promised in early December to look into Bisson's complaints.