Accelerated environmental assessment for Hwy. 413 part of new bill, province says

Ontario Premier Doug Ford greets tradespeople during an announcement for the building of Ontario Highway 413, in Caledon, Ont., Tuesday, April 30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

The province wants to create an “accelerated environmental assessment process” for Highway 413 as part of proposed legislation aimed at speeding up construction on priority highway projects in Ontario.

According to the provincial government, the new bill, titled the Building Highways Faster Act, will look at new ways of speeding up construction on multiple projects, including the Bradford Bypass, the Garden City Skyway bridge, and Highway 413, a six-lane, 52-kilometre throughway that will connect Halton and York regions.

Details of the new bill have not been released but the province said the legislation would “streamline utility relocations, accelerate access to property and property acquisitions and introduce new penalties for obstructing access for field investigations or damaging equipment.”

The province noted that new legislation, if passed, would allow regulation to facilitate “around-the-clock, 24/7 construction on priority highway projects.”

“Every minute wasted in traffic is a minute that could be spent with friends, family, and the people who matter most,” Ontario’s Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in a news release.

“Our government understands how frustrating it is to be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and the need to build highways and roads to help get people moving. That is why we’re moving forward with the common-sense changes, like 24/7 construction, proposed in this legislation.”

The province says the creation of an accelerated environmental assessment process for Highway 413 will allow Ontario to “proceed with early works while maintaining Ontario’s stringent oversight of environmental protections.”

In response to the proposed legislation, Ontario Green Party Deputy Leader Aislinn Clancy accused the province of “slashing environmental laws.”

“This government will do anything but come up with a serious plan to reduce gridlock and get Ontarians moving," Clancy said in a written statement.

“Slashing environmental laws, paving over our Greenbelt – Ontarians have made it clear that they’re not okay with this. For the government to be trying it yet again with Highway 413 shows how they’ll do anything to help their inner circle over the people of this province. This expensive highway needs to be cancelled once and for all."

Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Thursday, Sarkaria said the province takes environmental protections “very seriously.”

“This has been a project that has been studied and been on the books for 20 plus years. Ontario has some of the strictest environment protections as we move through our general processes,” he said.

“But ultimately, we also know that we need to build for the future. People are stuck in traffic every single day. They are stuck in gridlock. This is going to save families over 30 minutes in each direction.”