This is an absolute waste of…

This is an absolute waste of time and taxpayer money, and should be a badge of shame on the current provincial government. The duties and responsibilities of municipalities are for the municipalities! This will only result in he reduction of the autonomy of municipalities and, additionally, is very clearly a thinly veiled power grab from the Ford government to undermine the city of Toronto while framing it as a “provincial concern” to address city congestion. Toronto is not the province, but if Premier Ford is dead set on unfairly impacting the city, its mayor and its people, he should consider resigning from provincial office and running for the mayor of the city. Leave these issues up to the municipalities within the province, and stop wasting our time.

Additionally, the inclusion of the promise to build Highway 413 is laughable. This government has proven in the last 4 years that it has no interest of either fulfilling the needs of the province or making those needs met in a timely or affordable fashion. Highway 413 will not solve our problems, will not be cheap, will impact our watershed leading to more flooding, and will most likely never be completed. Yet another project to pay our personal connections to the Ford government while getting nothing finished.

It is clear from the wording included in this bill that the provincial government is choosing what facts and science to believe when it comes to traffic and environmental impact. Most studies show that traffic will swell to the size of the roads built, meaning that by the time the highway is completed it will already be gridlocked, and the same is true for municipal roads. It is the exact reason as to why there is a demand for bike lanes; they can move people faster through a city than driving can because of population density.

To reiterate, this bill is a waste of time. If the province wants to step in and do anything productive, they can do so instead by finishing what they’ve started. Get Metrolinks to finish the Eglinton LRT. Work with the city of Toronto to finish repairs on the Gardiner. Stop undermining public institutions and sowing divide between municipalities and the province.