Liberal Leader Del Duca tells Mississauga audience he’ll kill Hwy. 413 if elected

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Published May 27, 2022 at 12:55 pm

Liberal Leader Del Duca tells Mississauga audience he'll kill Hwy. 413 if elected
Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca (The Canadian Press)

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca told a Mississauga audience this morning (May 27) that if elected next week, his government will immediately scrap plans for the controversial Hwy. 413 that’s to cut through farmland and greenbelt areas in Brampton and other parts of the western GTA.

Instead, Del Duca said during a campaign stop at Zonta Meadows Park on Rathburn Rd., some of the $10 billion that would be saved from doing away with the highway plan could go to areas of critical need in Mississauga and across Ontario, such as education.

“At our first cabinet meeting, we will kill Hwy. 413 once and for all,” the Liberal leader said, adding saved money could go specifically toward repairing schools in need of upgrades and building new schools where needed in Mississauga and other Ontario communities.

Del Duca, long a critic of the proposed Hwy. 413, continued taking direct aim at it, saying an independent analysis of the proposal conducted earlier shows it’s just not feasible on many fronts.

Essentially, he told those gathered Friday morning, if the highway is built, “…it will only save a small handful of commuters seconds on their commute.”

Del Duca is scheduled to make two other stops in Mississauga today: at Murphy’s Ice Cream Parlour in Streetsville (2:15 p.m.) and the ISNA Mosque on South Sheridan Wasy (3:10 p.m.).

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his government have been pushing for Hwy. 413, also known as the GTA West Highway. 

Among the proposed route’s opponents are the City of Mississauga, which has long voiced its opposition, and the City of Brampton. Region of Peel council has also passed a motion opposing the plan.

Despite opposition from Mississauga and Brampton municipal governments, and conservationists concerned about the project’s impact, the Province is moving forward with the project.

If and when completed, Hwy. 413 would be a 50-km stretch of road that connects Hwys. 400 and 407 and cut through the western part of Brampton.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has also said she’s very much opposed to Hwy. 413, and that “all that money could go into public transit instead.” 

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