TORONTO — Ontario hopes to have shovels in the ground to begin building Highway 413 within a year. 

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria says a new agreement with the federal government will allow the Toronto-area highway to begin much earlier.

Ottawa and Ontario said yesterday that they came to an agreement that establishes a joint working group to minimize the planned highway’s environmental impacts in areas of federal jurisdiction.

The federal government had marked the highway project for a federal review under its powers in the Impact Assessment Act. 

Last fall, the Supreme Court of Canada found parts of that act were unconstitutional.

The province then took the federal government to court, asking the court to stop Ottawa from applying the impugned legislation to the 413 project, which ultimately led to the recent agreement. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press