PCs to reduce environment assessment, allow 24/7 construction on HWY 413

The PC government is planning to introduce another traffic congestion-focused bill when the legislature resumes this week that will further limit environmental reviews, allow around-the-clock construction, and crack down on potential protests.   

At a news conference yesterday, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Todd McCarthy unveiled the "Building Highways Faster Act," which will designate certain projects as a "priority." This includes Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass and the Gard City Skyway Bridge.

"Parents shouldn't be sitting in traffic on the 401 instead of seeing their child’s basketball game, commuters shouldn't be missing family dinner, stuck on the 400," said Sarkaria.

"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 bill will allow Sarkaria to make regulations allowing constant construction on individual projects, which he said was inspired by the apparent success of the province's July decision to pay $73 million to allow repair work in the Gardiner Expressway to proceed 24/7. That project is now four months ahead of schedule.

The text of the bill is not yet available so the exact details of other measures being proposed in the Building Highways Faster Act are a bit hazy.

The bill will also create "an accelerated environmental assessment process for highway 413" that will allow the province to proceed with early work on the project "while maintaining Ontario's stringent oversight of environmental protections."

Sarkaria and McCarthy provided no additional details at the press conferenceconfence on how the assessment process set out in the Environmental Assessment Act will be "accelerated," but assured reporters they take that process "very seriously."

"I'm committed to a responsible process for the environmental assessment completion," said McCarthy, adding that the province has "17 years and dozens of studies" to draw upon to come up with a simplified process.

"We can do both. We can be excellent stewards of the environment while also getting people moving on the 400 series of highways and building critical infrastructure like Highway 413.

The adequacy of the province's environmental assessment of Highway 413 has been fraught with controversy for years, with the federal government performing its own impact assessment of the project — leading to a contemptuous relationship between Premier Doug Ford and Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

The feds were finally forced to drop their impact assessment in April after a Supreme Court decision found that the federal Impact Assessment Act was "unconstitutional in part."

"What choice did I have? Not a whole lot,” Guilbeault told The Narwhal after signing a memorandum of understanding with Ontario ending the impact assessment.

Even after the Supreme Court decision, the federal government continued to warn the province about the impact of Highway 413 on several at-risk species whose habitats are along its proposed route.

In a letter to Deputy Minister of Transportation Doug Jones in December 2023 — obtained by Environmental Defence — the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada reminded Ontario that "the requirements of the federal Fisheries Act continue to apply to the project," and that Guilbeault "remains responsible under the Species at Risk Act for protecting against threats to federally listed species." The federal government then offered assistance to the Ministry of Transportation "to identify appropriate measures to avoid or minimize impacts" on at-risk species.

The premier, meanwhile, believes Ontario has worked on environmental assessments for Highway 413 long enough.

"We've been working on this environment assessment since before Moses. We just keep working, and working, and working. Let's build the damn highway," he said at a news conference last month.

"There's hundreds of thousands of people stuck in their cars backed up from here to Timbuktu, and you're worried about a grasshopper jumping across the highway."

Sarkaria said the new legislation "builds upon" Bill 163, the Get it Done Act, which was passed in the spring and also promised to move "more projects to a streamlined environmental process" by shortening timelines and allowing the province to begin expropriating land while the assessment was ongoing.

The transportation minister noted that the Building Highways Faster Act will also "accelerate access to property and property acquisitions," but his office did not respond to a request from The Trillium for clarification on whether this will involve further changes to expropriation rules.  

Sarkaria also mentioned the new law will "introduce new penalties for obstructing access for field investigations or damaging equipment," which appears to be aimed at the possibility of protestors attempting to hinder the construction of the project

Sarkaria's office did not provide any additional information on these proposed penalties either.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner reacted by saying the PC "will do anything but come up with a serious plan to reduce gridlock and get Ontarians moving.”

“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,” said Schreiner. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.