Re: Bradford Bypass, Bill…

Re: Bradford Bypass, Bill 212

On October 21st your Ministry introduced Bill 212, which includes the Building Highways Faster
Act. On October 28th you announced that you have awarded the contract to build the western
portion of the highway between highway 400 and Yonge St. This, despite the absence of design
or feasibility studies for building the eastern part of the Bradford Bypass, over the very sensitive
Holland Marsh river valley. Until your government started piecemeal building this way, this
process was illegal. This is against Environmental Assessment best practices to say the least.

Having followed the Bradford Bypass project in detail for three years, I believe that fast
tracking major infrastructure projects means removing more health, environmental, and property
rights, and is not in the public interest. The province has yet to reasonably defend the need or
justification for this project against any alternatives such as alternate routes or transit
expansions. Unless your government substantially answers these questions, I am of the
opinion that your government is set on this route in order to please sprawl developers.

Further, this action is a slap in the face to First Nations rights as we understand that
consultations about the Lower Landing and their buried ancestors are ongoing.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has neither reviewed nor approved designs or
mitigation plans, which they initially wanted to see before granting a permit to destroy fish
habitat, as has been done by the Yonge St. early works bridge.

The Ontario government has not sought federal permissions for Endangered Species which will
be impacted by this highway and appears to have little regard for its own provincial Species at
Risk. Neither has it obtained permission to destroy habitats of Migratory Birds.

Please tell us how you can possibly avoid the habitats you are legally responsible for protecting
with 24 hour construction?

The group I'm part of sent this in but I want to know too -

Today, we are presenting you with a petition signed by nearly 1800 people, requesting that the
Ministry of Transportation Ontario:

1. Publicly release the traffic studies, clearly indicating the points of origin
and time savings to justify this project;
2. Do a value for money audit of this project comparing it to regional road
and public transit alternatives;
3. If traffic studies and the evaluation of alternatives justify it, pay for
regional road improvements;
4. Plan for sustainable transportation. Prioritize getting Lake Simcoe
watershed area GO stations built: Innisfil Orbit, Barrie Waterfront; and all
day, two way electrification of the GO line;
5. Complete studies that are not being done - impacts to Lake Simcoe,
cumulative climate impacts, cumulative health assessments and
cumulative water impacts;
6. Use a salt alternative on the Bradford Bypass, Highway 404, and other
provincial highways that negatively affect freshwater.1

Please read the above petition carefully. It is very reasonable. Would you please respond by
explaining what you are doing on each of these points, and / or why you are not doing these
things. The people of Ontario deserve to know.

More than 11,000 people signed a previous petition to
stop the Bradford Bypass, and that 63 organizations and eight Lake Simcoe municipalities
supported our call for a Federal Impact Assessment for the project.

Also of note is the December 8, 2022 letter to Premier Ford from the Professional Engineers of
Ontario’s which strongly objected to this highway: “OSPE strongly urges the Ontario
government to abide by the recommendations of your engineering subject matter experts and
defer the highway projects, specifically Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, and reinvest that
money into higher priority projects.”

Further, the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario union has initiated job action
relating to both the Bradford Bypass and Highway 413. They seem not to want to help you fast
track this ill-conceived highway and the 413. Have you stopped to ask why? We suggest it is in part because your government has not addressed their substantial concerns, found here:
https://ospe.on.ca/advocacy/bradford-bypass-and-evidence-based-decision…
“Infrastructure projects should not be politicized.”

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.