It is good to see a…

It is good to see a government willing to let its citizens contribute to democracy and let their voices be heard. As a young adult living in Ontario, I feel it worth commenting on the proposed highway since this decision affects my future as well as millions of young people in this province. Firstly, I believe, just as the transportation of goods and better road infrastructure that this highway could provide are important in growing our economy, I believe that there needs to be a thorough and unbiased assessment of the environment. Here in Ontario, we have lots of abundant natural beauty with benefits of its own, including economic ones through farming, tourism and more. This proposed highway affects 52kms of Ontario land and there should be lots of conversations on how this affects the environment and local citizens. As mentioned on your website, the province is expected to grow to by a million people every 5 years, with a population of 15 million by 2051. One concern is the loss of farmland to feed all these people. Most of Ontario is made up of granite bedrock and is not suitable for growing the vast amounts of the crops we need. Looking on your interactive map of the proposed site for highway 413, you see that field after field of good crop-growing soil will be taken away if this highway is built. Furthermore, if we talk economically, how much will it cost the province to pay all these farmers and landowners to buy up all their land for this highway? Furthermore, why would the government not subject "Highway 413 early works projects" to complete the Environmental Assessment Act's environmental assessments? My guess is to save time. Instead of saving time, why does the government not take the time to further understand what this highway will do to the environment? These environmental assessments were put in place to protect our natural beauty, so why would the government want to skip them? By skipping, could this potentially leave out information on the environment around the proposed highway? Why would the government not want to know all the facts that an environmental assessment could give? Would it not be worthwhile to look into it even if it takes some time? This will further give the government an understanding of the environment and how to better protect it. Finally, it is good to hear the government would plant 52,000 trees along the highway, however, the government should take time to select the right trees for the soil and climate and not just plant trees just to say you planted trees. These are just a few of the concerns that the government must think about when making their decisions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.