Ford says Ontario 'getting the Highway 413 done,' as province eyes steps to speed expropriation

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is bullish about his government's push to get major infrastructure projects built, including the long-proposed, but still-unrealized Highway 413.

"We have to build. It's simple as that," Ford said during a Wednesday news conference in Toronto, in which healso revealed surprising plans his government hasto look at the building of a tunnel to carry a combination of traffic and transitunder Highway 401.

"We're getting the Highway 413 done," the premier added, touting his government's infrastructure-building aims and contrasting it with those of the legislature's opposition parties.

To make that happen, the government would have to expropriate land along the proposed highway's 50-plus kilometre route that would connect Halton, Peel and York regions.

CBC News has obtained internal government documents that describe measures the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs) are considering to speed the building of priority highway projects, including Highway 413.

It's not clear if the options have been brought before the PC cabinet.

The documents suggest that two such expropriation-related possibilities include:

• Enhancing authority to access property and take possession of expropriated land for designated highway projects, such as Highway 413.
• Streamlining possession of property Expropriation Act requirements for designated highway projects, such as Highway 413.

The government has so far declined to comment on the documents, beyond comments that Ford and cabinet ministers have made at recent news conferences.

The premier acknowledged the tensions when expropriations occur.

"No one's OK when you go in and expropriate," Ford said Wednesday, when asked about legislative measures his government could use to speed the expropriation process.

The premier said the goal is to ensure property owners affected by any such expropriation are "treated fairly and they get a proper cost for their property."

Other options to tackling gridlock: Schreiner

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner says the building of Highway 413 "is going to do nothing to relieve gridlock any time soon" and that there's a clear way of tackling that problem without building a whole new roadway.

"If the government wants to immediately solve gridlock in the GTA, they should be paying the tolls of truckers on the 407, getting those trucks off of the 401 and utilizing an under-utilized highway," he said in an interview.

CBC News has previously reported that other measures under consideration include potentially permitting 24/7 construction to take place, and also looking at a "customized" environmental assessment process for Highway 413 a project the PC government has said it has a mandate to pursue.

The Green leader said government efforts to "fast-track" the building of the highway were not justified.

"It's reckless, it's dangerous and it's fiscally irresponsible," said Schreiner.

Highway 413 was first proposed in 2007, when the Dalton McGuinty-led Liberal government was still in power. The project was then cancelled by the government helmed byMcGuinty's successor, former premier Kathleen Wynne, in 2018.

WATCH | Ford talks tunnel concept:

Ontario looking at feasibility of traffic tunnel under Hwy. 401

12 days ago

Duration 1:30

Premier Doug Ford announced Wednesday his government will explore the possibility of building a tunnel for drivers and transit beneath Highway 401.

The Ford-led PCs revived the project in 2019, during their first mandate. But it still has not been built.

The PCs are halfway through a second straight mandate. The next Ontario election isn't due to occuruntil2026.

There has been speculation that Ford may call an early election. Asked about it Wednesday, he did not dispel the possibility.

"There won't be an election this year," he said.