THUNDER BAY – Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s fully in favour of twinning the Trans-Canada across Northwestern Ontario.
“I’m all in,” Ford said on Thursday, asked about the prospect during a media availability at Thunder Bay’s city hall.
The province has committed to twinning Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon, with Ford promising another 16 kilometres of that stretch is expected to be completed by year’s end.
However, other than committing to twin Highway 17 west from Kenora to the Manitoba border, little to no progress has been made under successive governments to four-lane the highway between Thunder Bay and Kenora. The same goes for Highway 17 east of Nipigon. Highway 11 is also a mostly two-lane Highway that stretches from Nipigon to Barrie.
The Trans-Canada has become a growing cause of concern in recent years, deadly crashes killing motorists on a far too regular basis each year. Earlier on Thursday, a serious crash between a transport and a pick-up truck sent one person to hospital and closed the highway for several hours.
Ford told reporters his government is putting a priority on highway safety in Ontario.
“I want to make sure our highways are safe. It’s treacherous, and not just here,” Ford said. “Have you ever (gone) from Sudbury down to the city? That two-lane is like white-knuckle driving down there. If the transport is off by two inches and you’re done.”
Ford's government has already promised to widen Highway 69 to four lanes, a $500-million project that will four-lane an additional 68 kilometres of highway.
The premier said people who live in Ontario’s large cities often have no clue how dangerous highways in more remote parts of the province can be, especially in winter.
Ford said he got a first-hand experience of the conditions this past winter, during the provincial election campaign.
“We drove all over the north during the election and snow was coming down. We had a pretty heavy winter. It was terrifying. But until you see it first-hand, you can’t appreciate it. We’ll do everything we can do be sure we get that fulfilled, because I know (Kenora MPP Greg) Rickford has been on me non-stop, and we’ll get that done.”
Ford did not commit to a timeline and there was no indication of what a preliminary budget might look like.
NDP MPP Lise Vaugeios has been an outspoken critic of the provincial government’s response to Northern Ontario highway safety. This past May she called it the number one issue in the region, calling for all new commercial drivers to be tested by the Ministry of Transportation and for highway maintenance to be done in-house by the MTO.
Dougall Media has reached out to Vaugeois’ office for comment.
