Issues of concern that are have received support from necessary levels of government and are currently being implemented.
Issues that have the support of the municipality but are waiting on approval from the province or another entity.

Issues that have been proposed but have not yet received the support of the municipality.

Issues of concern, such as MZOs, that have been denied by the province but that are still progressing at the local level.

Issues that have been successfully resolved.
Subject Lands Outline

Greenbelt
GO Train Line and Stops
Road/Highway Construction
500 m High Risk Air Pollution
Evaluated Wetlands
Unevaluated Wetlands
My primary concern is that the Provincial Government is relying on a decades old Environmental Assessment Approval to build this highway. MTO is now only conducting a Class EA study. This is not a new full EA study, but rather a continuation of the original, decades old, EA approved highway route. This new study is essentially a detailed design of the route approved in the original EA Approval.
Class environmental assessment studies are only permitted under the Environmental Assessment Act where there is a pre-existing, inactive, but still valid, Environmental Assessment Approval for the project. Given that the previous Liberal government abandoned this project, in or around 2006, it is likely the original EA approval is now invalid if for no other reason than MTO defaulted on the Conditions of Approval for this project. However, under our current government, as we have seen with Ministerial Zoning Orders, if anything gets in their way, such as an out-dated EA Approval, they will enact retroactive legislation to “fix” the problem.
Two MTO staff members gave a presentation to the March 18, 2021 York Region Council special meeting. They provided presentations for both the Hwy 413 project and the Bradford Bypass. They assured council that they would be following all statutory requirements and provide proper mitigation measures wherever appropriate. When asked about the Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks’ proposals to “streamline” the provisions of the Environmental Assessment Act for both the Bradford Bypass and Hwy 413, their response was essentially these are just proposals, “you will have to ask MOECP about these”. Likewise when asked about the Ford government’s stated intention to start building bridges before completion of the studies currently underway, only an evasive answer was provided.
MTO’s representatives appeared to alleviate the concerns of many councilors by assuring them that there would be ample opportunities for public consultation. What MTO’s representatives did not say is that the consultation will be with respect to the design and mitigation measures they are proposing in their current study. Major issues, such as Need and Justification for the project, Alternative Solutions and Study Areas will not be on the table because these were addressed in the original EAS nearly 24 years ago
What MTO refuses to acknowledge or even consider is that, over time, circumstances have changed. There are now alternative solutions and public climate change policies that will likely overrule these decades old Need and Justification findings. A key example is the Barrie Go Train now handles the bulk of the travel demand originally relied upon to satisfy the Need and Justification statements in the Bradford Bypass 1997 EAS.
A fresh, unbiased, full environmental assessment for both projects is the only way to properly comply with the Environmental Assessment Act and satisfy Ontarians that whatever solutions are ultimately chosen and implemented, are indeed necessary and have the least possible negative impact on the environment.
I provided York Region Council with a narrated PowerPoint presentation concerning my above mentioned concerns. A video of this can be seen at: https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMY7FsOqajuhkSz4vELHSMrlOD6PioQrAOboab8
Thanks, Bill! Hey, just a thought, any interest in writing a guest post on this?
As I see it, this is nothing less than Doug Ford spending taxpayer money to enhance the profits of developers who want to build on farmland from Bradford all the way to Barrie. Ford has just used ministry orders to allow a developer to build a new project in Innisfil. Anyone who thinks it will be a good idea to allow this bypass should be forced to drive from Newmarket to Toronto on the 404 at 7:00 A.M. every work day for a month and then imagine the extra traffic this bypass will cause. Even the extra lane being built on 404 will not help. Since Ford has come in to office he has been laser focused on 3 things. 1- Giving the City of Toronto anything they ask for. He forgets that Ontario extends beyond the 416 area code. 2- Catering to the wants of developers and 3 – for some reason, wants beer and liquor in every corner store. The taxpayers of Ontario would be better served enhancing GO Train service instead of this unnecessary road. There needs to be an alternate route from Bradford to Newmarket because 1 incident on Hwy 11 that causes the road to close is a disaster, but not this. Remember, the Province of Ontario has the highest debt of any non-federal government on the planet.