I am a resident of the…

I am a resident of the Greater Golden Horseshoe and a doctoral student in urban planning. I am strongly opposed to this legislation and project, and I encourage the government to cease pursuing this destructive and ineffective transportation project.

There is clear evidence that this project will improve traffic times by only the thinnest of margins, which will not noticeably improve Ontarians' quality of life. This new highway will further degrade our agricultural and conservation land supply without any clear benefit. The need to exempt its activities from environmental assessments heavily implies the negative environmental impacts of this work. If we are to lose farmland and natural heritage areas, then redirecting this land for housing would be a far better decision. To relieve traffic concerns, a wiser approach would include redirecting the funding from this project into bolstering our public transit capacity/service, integrating existing transit systems, and/or covering the cost of diverting cargo trucks to Highway 407 to reduce gridlock on Highway 401.

I hope and trust that our government will follow the clear evidence and change its course regarding this project. Thank you for reading this comment.