The Issue

In the early summer of 2007 residents of the quiet municipality of Puslinch, south of Guelph, received in their mail boxes a notification of a Public Information Centre (PIC) to be held by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The PIC was to present a list of proposed corridors for a new highway under a Class Environmental Assessment (EA).

This was the first the residents of Puslinch had heard of this new highway despite the fact that the EA was already well advanced. After some discussions in the local community a group of people got together to discuss this highway proposal. Research showed us that the original plans for this road were to the West of Cambridge, but only at this advanced phase were they now considering Puslinch as their preferred connection to the 401.

In the Fall of 2008 MTO announced that they were withdrawing the Class EA and starting again with a full Individual EA; a more rigorous process. This new EA is also seriously flawed:

  • Need:  as in the first EA no clear need for the proposal exists. This is not to say that there aren’t transportation needs in the area. There are proposals by Regional Municipalities that should address those needs. These studies certainly do not.
  • Policy: the Ontario Liberals made a real attempt to address the needs of a growing population. They introduced the Growth Plan "Places to Grow". This Act is an attempt to prevent uncontrolled urban sprawl and put the new population in areas able to deal with growth. It is a comprehensive plan for development and infrastructure including transportation. There is no provision for a new road between Brantford and Puslinch.
  • Places to Grow also states that road development will be constrained to improving existing infrastructure and preference must be given to transit.
  • All Ministry development plans, by law, conform to Places to Grow. How can a study that proposes to consider solutions which do not conform be legal?
  • New roads always bring other development.MTO can not claim that this is not their problem. Places to Grow is supposed to be about good planning.
  • Gord Miller, the Environmental Commissioner for Ontario, has consistently criticised MTO for launching studies without a proven need and with no regard to the environmental impacts.

Over $2m was wasted in the first EA process. How many more millions of dollars will MTO waste in pursuing something where there is no data to for a need, where their proposals are clearly against Provincial Policy and which do nothing to help the City of Cambridge solve their congestion problems.

The new EA is at the end of its first phase where the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has to approve the Terms of Reference. Help us to stop this folly before it goes any further.