I am strongly opposed to…

I am strongly opposed to this bill, which is going in the opposite direction of where we need to go as a province. It is a complete waste of money to rip up existing bike lanes, and fast-tracking Highway 413 to avoid proper environmental oversight is dishonest and reckless.

Short-sighted policies like these will not reduce traffic congestion. What they will do is encourage more people to drive private cars, increasing climate pollution, making walking and cycling more dangerous, and reducing quality of life for people living and working along arterial roads. Decades of research shows that expanding highways leads to more congestion, not less. And these policies waste money that would be better spent on public transit, health care, and other services that actually contribute to community and environmental health.

It's very disturbing to me that the way this bill is presented completely fails to address the environmental and climate impact of discouraging cycling and public transit and destroying greenspace to expand highways. This is the opposite of what we need to do to stabilize the climate and preserve clean air and water and a natural environment that is safe from flooding, pollution, and other climate impacts.

I don't generally vote Conservative, but I would if I saw a Conservative government showing leadership on environmental conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation, as some Conservative governments in the UK and some past PC governments in Canada have done. That would be thrilling. In the meantime, I hope to at least see the Ontario government backing down on misguided bills like this one that will waste taxpayers' money and only make pollution and traffic congestion worse.