Ontario Premier Doug Ford walks in Mississauga, Ont., on April 30.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Doug Ford is asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to support the Ontario Premier’s vision to build the world’s longest traffic tunnel under Highway 401 – which experts warn could cost as much as $120-billion – and scrap a federal law that assesses the environmental impact of major projects.
In a letter sent to Mr. Carney on Monday, Mr. Ford identifies five projects that Ontario deems to be “nation-building” that should be prioritized by the federal government, including the highway tunnel, critical mineral development in the Ring of Fire and nuclear energy.
Mr. Ford said that the Prime Minister asked provinces during a March 21 First Ministers’ meeting for a list of projects to prioritize. The letter says Mr. Carney told premiers that he would take “urgent action” to cut red tape and streamline approvals for these nation-building projects, including by introducing a one-project, one-review approach that recognizes provincial and territorial environmental assessment processes by Canada Day.
Ontario’s other projects listed in the letter are a new James Bay deep seaport as well as the expansion of GO passenger train service in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
In his letter, the Premier says his proposed Highway 401 driver and transit tunnel expressway will “significantly ease congestion on the busiest highway in North America, helping to improve our economic competitiveness by getting goods and services to market sooner.”
Experts, however, have cast doubt on Mr. Ford’s plan, estimating it would take decades to build, cost $60-billion to $120-billion or more at the 60-kilometre length he has suggested, and do little to solve Toronto’s traffic woes. But the province has vowed to forge ahead and is currently conducting a feasibility study that is expected to take two years.
Ontario’s entire budget for all kinds of infrastructure is $200-billion over the next 10 years – without the tunnel.
Opposition politicians have long criticized the plan as an expensive pipe dream, and they said Monday that Mr. Ford should be focusing on other projects.
“I’m not sure the fantasy tunnel will be on the Prime Minister’s list of priorities,” Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie told reporters at Queen’s Park.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said provincial money being spent on Mr. Ford’s tunnel “vanity project” should be redirected to affordable housing and support for auto workers and others affected by U.S. tariffs.
“Honestly, this is outrageous and ridiculous,” she said. “At this time, when workers in Windsor, in Oshawa, across the province, have their jobs being cut, they’re losing their jobs right now, Doug Ford is prioritizing his fantasy tunnel?”
In his letter, Mr. Ford congratulates Mr. Carney’s Liberals on their return to power in last week’s federal election and says he stands ready to work with Ottawa during a “crucial time” for Ontario and Canada.
“Your election comes at a time of significant economic uncertainty for workers, businesses and families caused by President Trump’s tariffs,” Mr. Ford writes.
The Premier also repeated his call made during the federal campaign for Mr. Carney to repeal the Impact Assessment Act, known as Bill C-69, an environmental review law that opponents have dubbed the No More Pipelines Act.
Mr. Carney said during the campaign he would keep the law in place but would remove, for projects of national interest, duplicative processes. He has proposed a one-stop approach to project approvals with a mandate to issue decisions within two years instead of five. He has also said the Liberals wouldn’t remove the federal large-emitter carbon levy.
Mr. Ford says in his letter that Ontario is ready to work with federal, provincial and municipal partners “to establish new energy corridors” for pipelines, rail lines, transmission lines and other critical infrastructure to get Canadian resources and energy to new refineries and markets.
During the campaign, Mr. Carney pledged to make Canada an energy superpower, arguing that it can increase conventional energy production while leading on the clean-energy transition.
Mr. Carney said that his new approach will strive to make Canada less dependent on other countries, such as the U.S., for exporting energy.
Mr. Ford’s office also released a letter sent by federal ministers in the Trudeau government in November, pledging to work with the province on key projects such as critical minerals, housing infrastructure and Highway 413, which would arc through protected Greenbelt land around the Greater Toronto Area west and north of Toronto.