What a cheap political stunt. The federal government’s decision Monday to impose its own environmental assessment on the Ontario government’s proposed Highway 413 is nothing more than a transparent attempt to curry favour with environmental groups ahead of this summer’s expected federal election.
The proposed 413 is typically described as “controversial” because it will take up farmland, require some Greenbelt land and cross numerous waterways. And yet, it would be difficult to build a new highway anywhere in Ontario without taking up land and crossing waterways. It would seem to be inherent in the very concept of building a highway.
Is the real problem where the highway is, or that it is a highway? Highways, as you know, carry cars. Cars, of course are bad. There is even a line of thinking that says fewer roads would mean fewer cars. So stopping a highway, any highway, anywhere, has to be good, right?
And yet, there’s a nagging problem. Toronto and the GTA receive well over 100,000 immigrants a year. Those people need somewhere to live and that housing demand contributes to the continual outward expansion of the areas around Toronto. It’s not reasonable to add that many people and cars every year and still expect the same highway network to be able to serve them. The geographic expansion makes it difficult for transit to meet more than a small portion of the demand.
The federal government is typically content to leave those problems to the provincial government, right after the feds congratulate themselves for boldly increasing immigration targets. There is nothing wrong with immigration but it demands aggressive expansion of both housing and ways of getting around the ever-expanding Toronto megalopolis.
That’s where Highway 413 comes in, unless you are federal Environmental Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. When the minister looks at a proposed highway, he doesn’t see the problems it might solve, just the ones it might cause.
In the case of the Highway 413 project, the minister received a request to get involved from the environmental law group Ecojustice, on behalf of Environmental Defence. A second request came from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. In all, the feds received 1,670 comments on the planned highway, 90 per cent of them negative.
Facing such awesome pressure, the minister was obviously compelled to act. Wilkinson said that various federal departments had “identified clear areas of federal concern.”
This is where some real political creativity was required. How does a provincial highway become a federal concern? Meet the Western Chorus Frog, surely the only western thing the Trudeau government cares about. The feds have determined that building the highway might have adverse impacts on this federally-listed species at risk, as well as negative effects on the Redheaded Woodpecker and the Rapids Clubtail, which is a small dragonfly. These three species are only protected on federal lands, but what the heck, close enough.
Aboriginal groups expressed concern that the highway could interfere with traditional fishing, hunting and gathering of native medicines, surely core activities in the Milton and Vaughan areas.
Also, there is a critical cultural aspect. Federal land managed by the CBC in Milton would only be about 50 metres from the right of way. It is not clear how this proximity might endanger the CBC or affect its traditional news gathering activity.
Now, the federal government can’t say for sure that any of these things would be an actual problem, only that they might be. All these dire effects could be mitigated but the feds want to get deeply involved, just in case the highway-happy provincial government doesn’t give due weight to these concerns.
Rest assured, the federal assessment process will rely on “science, evidence and Indigenous knowledge,” Wilkinson said, although it’s not altogether clear what will happen if science and evidence reach a different conclusion than Indigenous knowledge.
Not that it will necessarily matter. Monday’s announcement is of the type that delivers full value on the day it is made. Now, Liberal candidates can say their party is standing up for the environment and Indigenous peoples. Short-term political gain will be made whatever happens to the highway in the long run.
Here’s what’s worrying, though. What power does any province have to meet the critical transportation needs of its citizens if the federal government is potentially willing to block such a major project for purely political reasons? The fact that this federal government is prepared to do it while citing “evidence and science” just makes the hypocrisy complete.
Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator, author and former Ontario PC candidate. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com
