A Brief Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper
Posted November 10th, 2021 on Niagara At Large
It has been on the books for more than two decades now – a plan to build a so-called “Mid-Pen Highway,” above the Niagara Escarpment and through some of the heart of Niagara’s rural lands from the Hamilton-Burlington area to the Fort Erie, Ontario-Buffalo, New York border crossing.
So while Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his Conservatives seem to be on a roll now with saying yes to one controversial highway plan in the Greater Toronto Area – all in the name of “Building Ontario” – why not dust off and give a green light to the Mid-Peninsula Highway plan too.
In other words, why stop now if Ontario’s future involves paying over more green lands for highways and the low-density development to accommodate more cars and trucks on the road?
Why don’t we just finish it up?
Where is the outrage over this? We have young people rallying in the streets of Glasgow, Scotland this month during a global climate conference, and this is what we are doing back in Ontario. Do we not give a damn about their future?
I’ve been covering environmental issues now for more than 40 years, and there are times, these days, when I am just about ready to give up.
To read related stories on this click on the following link – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2021/11/10/ford-government-is-building-ontario-by-pushing-forward-with-controversial-highway-413/
A map of where a multi-billion-dollar Mid-Peninsula Highway might go. Do we want it? We might get it if we don’t stand up to Doug Ford’s highway-building agenda.
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
Niagara At Large 
Hi Doug, the mid-Pen was originally conceived as a short cut for US truckers from Ft. Erie to the 401 westbound around London-Chatham. It was to be a toll road, sort of paralleling Hwy 3 at least for part of the way, to get traffic off the QEW. Somewhere along the way, after I left broadcasting, the rationale for the road seems to have changed to be a non-toll road bee-lining for Hamilton-Toronto – a very bad idea. I don’t know how that change came to be.
This idea of yet more roads is disheartening. The original mid-Pen road idea made at least a bit of sense but these other roads are just going to serve development. They aren’t being created to “meet demand” – these new roads are being planned to CREATE demand, pave over irreplaceable farm land and embed the idea of continuing urban sprawl.
Glad to see you keeping up the pressure!
Cheers,
Tim
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I tried posting about this on facebook a few years ago, nobody paid any attention. Later I found an online survey results indicating the majority of people support it.
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I sincerely hope that Doug Ford;s insane highway plans can be clipped completely. It just boggles the mind that the man cannot even see what this will do to our environment and add to climate change. No Canadian politician should be able to weld this kind of power over the majority of Canadian wishes to save our planet and have good safe food because we have been blessed with such beautiful farmland and hard working farmers.He Doug Ford needs to be turfed.
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We need this mid pen highway to relieve pressure off of the QEW!!… in heavy winds over the Burlington skyway, or the garden city skyway or severe accidents, the highway is shutdown leaving motorists using alternate routes and clogging up small towns along the way.
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