As part of the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act announced on Oct. 21, Ontario plans to speed up construction of Highway 413 and other roadway projects, despite labour disputes that will likely impact its construction and increasing concern surrounding the environmental costs of the project.
The Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO) has been in negotiation with the municipal government, as their workers have gone “almost two years” without a contract. After a conversation on Oct. 18 brought little progress for the union’s goals, they decided to begin taking their workers off of the government’s Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass projects.
The union represents professional engineers, engineers-in-training and land surveyors who work with the Ontario Public Service. According to the union, without these workers the projects will lack the figures needed for “oversight and management,” making it increasingly difficult for Highway 413 to proceed past planning stages it has been in for years.
PEGO’s president Nihar Bhatt called the negotiations “frustrating,” saying that the proposals they are receiving do not align with what the workers need to continue putting time into the project, emphasizing that they are still far from what the union perceives as an equitable deal.
“Without proper investment in Ontario’s vital engineering and surveying functions, this government’s key infrastructure priorities cannot be met on a cost-effective and timely basis,” said Bhatt.
Despite the frustration caused by the lack of agreement between Doug Ford’s government and the union, PEGO said they aim to keep their strike “tightly focused and responsible,” wanting to make real progress towards a new, fairer contract.
PEGO’s labour disputes have not been the only roadblock in the way of Ford’s desire to begin construction on Highway 413.
Environmentalists have directly opposed construction of the Highway because of its controversial proposed route. The proposed route shows that the highway will run through “400 acres of the Greenbelt” — the federally protected stretch of land used to conserve nature from development — and 2,000 acres of farmland, while also threatening “forests and waterways.”
According to Environmental Defence, the highway will also have a large impact on biodiversity, threatening 29 species with varying levels of endangerment.
Additionally, Environmental Defence claims that the huge financial and environmental costs of Highway 413 will not be worth the small amounts of time it might save commuters, urging Ford and his government to instead consider investing in public transit, using the 407 exclusively for transport truck commuting and to monitor evolving “transportation technologies.”
The environmentalist group continues to urge citizens to contact their local politicians to interfere with the project, despite the recent Highway 413 Act proposing to exempt the project from the Environmental Assessment Act, meaning that “additional environmental studies” and finishing the environmental assessment process would not be required for the government to proceed with the project.
Though PEGO’s labour disputes with the government are still ongoing and environmentalists are still asking Ford to reconsider his project, Ford continues to push legislation to begin construction on Highway 413 as soon as possible.