Marit Stiles, leader of the Ontario NDP, has promised to make Highway 407 toll-free if elected. This bold pledge comes amidst an ongoing debate about road tolls and congestion in the province.
Three days after Doug Ford confirmed he would call a snap election for Ontario, NDP Leader Marit Stiles stood in Brampton to make her first campaign promise.
Stiles elaborated that she would remove tolls for trucks on Day 1 in order to relieve congestion on Highway 401, and would drop tolls on the provincially-owned sections of the highway. She would then enter into negotiations with the consortium that owns the rest of the 407 to try remove tolls for everyone across the entire highway.Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles is joined by Windsor West NDP candidate Lisa Gretzky during a campaign stop at Gretzky's campaign office in Windsor, Ont.
This week Ford took that idea even further, promising to introduce legislation that would make it illegal for any municipality to introduce a congestion charge. That promise comes as a Despite the tolls, traffic continues to increase on the 407. While traffic volumes plunged on the toll highway during the pandemic, they have beensince, according to data published online by 407 ETR, the company that owns the highway.
In another recent statement, the company said it is not engaged in any discussions around selling off the highway, but is open to hear proposals on relieving congestion. While policy experts understand this, it’s a difficult idea to instill in a population being hit with the rising cost of everything. That may explain why, despite the fact that removing tolls are counter-productive in the long-run, almost all the parties are talking about doing so.
She said “serious solutions” are needed to combat gridlock, but did not say what those would look like or whether that would include any promises around tolls.One thing that voters might want to consider when weighing the various promises around road tolls is that the cost of congestion is often hidden.
Despite the fact that the charged politics around Hwy. 407 might be more complex than campaign promises make it seem, Siemiatycki said it is encouraging to see a discussion around congestion in the campaign.
Ontario Election Highway 407 NDP Doug Ford Tolls Congestion
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