I strongly disagree that…

I strongly disagree that this bill will reduce gridlock. It is well documented that measures which add more lanes do not reduce traffic, they make traffic worse through induced demand because they lead to more cars on the road. In addition, the worst area of gridlock in Ontario is downtown Toronto, and adding more car-routes outside the city could simply funnel more cars into the city onto streets that cannot take any more car volume.

As the population grows instead of taking up more and more land with car infrastructure, we should instead focus on space efficient solutions, such as bike lanes, buses and trains. These have greater density, allowing a larger volume of people to travel while taking up less area. This is particularly important in downtown Toronto, where space is at a premium - why is the government catering to the least space-efficient option? The money spent on highways would be better used to develop our public transport network, as this would have a greater impact on reducing congestion.

I am also dismayed at the proposal to ignore environmental impact assessments. This is an extremely shortsighted plan which could have serious consequences further down the line.