Federal government rejects calls for review of Highway 413, jeopardizing Ontario’s Greenbelt and at-risk species

Just as Ontarians are gearing up to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) has announced the shocking decision to ignore the concerns of scientists, advocates and transit experts and not designate Highway 413 for a full federal review.

The denial, shared by IAAC President Terence Hubbard on December 20, follows a request from Environmental Defence in October which requested Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, intervene and designate Highway 413 under the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) and trigger the much more rigorous environmental study the Act involves. Advocates say the federal review is desperately needed after the PC government gutted the Environmental Assessment Act, exempting the 413 from critical assessments in order to rush it forward. 

The request to have the federal government step in to review the project dates back to 2021 when environmental groups first demanded Ottawa intervene. At that time, the IAAC agreed and halted the project for three years as they awaited plans from the PC government for addressing major concerns around species at risk and Indigenous rights. Despite not receiving this information, in April, the provincial and federal governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to address the outstanding concerns. 

In November, 121 scientists wrote a letter to the minister highlighting “the absence of federal action,” and warned construction of the highway, which passes along, and sometimes through, Ontario’s Greenbelt could negatively affect at least 29 species at risk meant to be protected under provincial and federal legislation. Approximately 122 bird species protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act and fish habitats in more than 100 waterways protected by the Fisheries Act could be impacted by the proposed 400-series highway.

(Anushka Yadav/The Pointer)

In a notice posted on the IAAC website, Hubbard explained that he considered whether the project could cause adverse effects within federal jurisdiction or lead to “direct or incidental” environmental impacts. While he acknowledged that the project could result in such effects, he ultimately concluded that these potential harms could be addressed through existing legislation and mechanisms. The analysis report Hubbard relied on to make his decision has yet to be made public. 

Hubbard further explained that he had taken into account public concerns about the project's impacts, including the threat to the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the availability of approaches to mitigate the harm. 

He emphasized the project must be carried out in compliance with both federal and provincial legislative frameworks, which he argued would sufficiently address the concerns raised by Indigenous communities and the public. These include a variety of federal laws, such as the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, and the Migratory Birds Convention Act, as well as provincial regulations like the Highway 413 Act and the Ontario Endangered Species Act.

It remains unclear if the IAA considered how the Highway 413 Act—part of the PC government’s ‘draconian’ Bill 212— accelerates construction of the highway by exempting the project from the provincial Environmental Assessment Act as well as the Greenbelt Act and creates a fast-tracked process for building the 59-kilometre highway and its extensions along Highways 410 and 427.

It is an exemption that critics say undermines the province's own environmental protection laws.

Placing responsibility for following existing environmental legislation into the hands of the Ontario government is concerning given the PC’s track record of failing to enforce these laws. 

A 2021 audit completed by Ontario’s Auditor General found the PCs routinely failed to enforce legislation designed to protect species at risk and government decision making was actively harming wildlife meant to be protected by law. 

In his decision not to designate the 413, Hubbard placed faith in existing laws and mitigation measures to protect wildlife and sensitive ecosystems. However, the 2021 audit found the Province does not perform inspections to ensure contractors and developers are implementing the mitigation measures required by those laws to protect species at risk. The auditor general found examples where mitigation measures put in place as part of the permitting process are ignored, leading to direct harm to endangered species.

More recently, another scathing report by Ontario’s AG released earlier this month criticized Premier Doug Ford’s government for disregarding its obligations under the Environmental Bill of Rights, often completely failing to consult with residents, or disregarding their feedback around environmental legislative changes. 

Instead, the PCs repeatedly misled Ontarians by hiding information or using “self-congratulatory language and promotional wording in their proposal notices, seemingly trying to persuade rather than strictly inform the public about the proposals and their environmental implications.”

In the case of Highway 413, the provincial government’s own research identified 11 species at risk including Rapids Clubtail, a species of dragonfly, living along the proposed route of the highway. Expert reports have found nearly 30 species at risk rely on habitat along the corridor. 

Rapids Clubtail

(Government of Ontario)

The IAAC reiterated that “Canada has a robust regulatory regime…to ensure development can be achieved in a sustainable fashion before relevant federal permits are able to be issued.”

Despite these reassurances, Tim Gray, the Executive Director of Environmental Defence remains unconvinced.

“We feel that it’s clear, both from the evidence available but also past decisions from the federal government that an impact assessment is the best mechanism to review the overall impacts of this proposed highway on federal values,” he told The Pointer. “The threats have become grander because they moved the routing of the highway on the western end to the most impactful area. The impact of federal values are likely to be a lot higher than they originally were.”

The proposed route of Highway 413.

(Environmental Defence)

Environmental Defence has released several reports detailing the significant environmental risks posed by the highway. Their reports highlight the devastating impacts it could have on three major watersheds—the Humber River, Etobicoke Creek, and Credit River—which are critical habitats for species such as the redside dace, a species of minnow. 

The redside dace

(Environment Canada)

These watersheds are home to over 65 percent of the remaining redside dace habitat in Canada, and the Government of Canada’s Recovery Strategy has placed restrictions on development in these watersheds to protect the endangered species. It remains unclear how the Ontario government will be able to obtain a permit to move forward with construction on the 413 as the evidence clearly shows the highway could threaten the redside dace with extirpation in Ontario. 

The western chorus frog is another species at risk that will lose habitat if Highway 413 is constructed.

(Ontario Nature)

“I think the federal government still has the capacity to deny permits for destructive activities that are going to exacerbate or threaten the recovery of federally listed species,” Gray said. “They both have the legal authority, and moral responsibility to do that. Losing species at risk from Canada for a poorly planned highway, that’s not needed, would be a complete failure on the federal government’s part.”

Hubbard pointed to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the federal and the provincial government on April 15, which established a joint working group to monitor and mitigate the environmental impacts of the project. This group is tasked with ensuring that any potential harm to federally listed species at risk and their critical habitats is thoroughly considered before the project moves into its detailed design phase.

“The federal-provincial working group will continue to meet until Environment and Climate Change Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have made decisions on authorizations or permits, or have reached consensus with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO, the proponent) within their respective mandates in relation to the project,” IAA said in a statement to The Pointer.

Environmental Defence is now reviewing the decision for legal recourse and exploring potential next steps. Gray says they will continue to push for the federal government to intervene. 

“We’ll be looking for the federal government to use the other tools they have available and require that the province either abandon this project or move it so it doesn’t go through these critically endangered habitats.”

Environmental Defence’s research reveals that the construction of Highway 413 could generate more than 17 million additional tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, undermining Canada’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions. This increase in emissions would also hinder Canada’s progress toward meeting the climate targets set under the Paris Agreement, particularly the 2030 goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels.

When The Pointer asked the IAAC how the federal government plans to meet its 2030 emissions targets in light of these projections, the agency did not directly address the threat from the 413, only noting the government has “a suite of policies to meet our climate change objectives including carbon pricing, emission regulations, and various clean growth tax incentives.”   

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change did not respond to a request for comment from The Pointer.

With an early provincial election this spring being consistently hinted at by Premier Ford, Gray expects Highway 413 to be “front and center in the election race,” and urged people to reach out to both their federal and provincial elected representatives.

The political implications of the decision are significant, particularly for the Liberal government, which has traditionally been associated with strong environmental policies. Amid the political turmoil unfolding in Ottawa, the government now faces mounting criticism for its failure to intervene in the highway project. They are facing similar disdain from residents in York Region and Simcoe County for the repeated failure to intervene in another harmful PC highway project: the Bradford Bypass. 

“We also know from polling that the people that would possibly vote for the federal Liberal party are much less likely to do so if they feel the federal government is supporting this highway. This is going to be a very politically relevant decision in conversation for the federal government and people should raise it with their MPs and MPPs as much as they can,” Gray said.

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