Federal officials know Highway 413 will devastate watersheds, so why aren’t existing laws enough for them to stop it?

Having recently welcomed a child into his home, Aadil Nathani, like many Canadians, hopes his newborn will grow up with the opportunity to enjoy the natural world, including bike rides in celebration of Earth’s true worth. 

That dream might be at risk with the PC government’s determination to drown out Mother Nature with another sprawling car-covered asphalt corridor.

Nathani, co-founder of Green Ummah, an environmental movement within the Canadian Muslim community, is among more than 160 faith leaders from diverse traditions who, as part of the residents' group Faith and Climate Action, signed a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford urging him “to put brakes on construction of Highway 413 and removal of bike lanes.”

The group—including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Unitarian organizations—expressed its concerns about Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, warning it will have devastating consequences for the environment, public safety, food systems and Indigenous rights.

“Our faiths share a moral imperative to provide caring stewardship of the Earth which we hold sacred. We are compelled to speak out when decisions threaten the integrity of our environment and the well-being of present and future generations,” the letter inspires, warning that the Ford government is prioritizing short-term economic interests over long-term sustainability by expediting the construction of the 59-kilometre highway. 

The proposed route for Highway 413.

(Ontario Ministry of Transportation)

“It (Bill 212) will divert significant financial resources from healthcare, housing and education, where they are desperately needed. As well, it will increase carbon emissions when the Province must urgently reduce them.”

The appeal was sent a day before the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada released a 26-page analysis report explaining its decision to not designate Highway 413 for a federal impact assessment under the Impact Assessment Act. This means one of the largest highway projects in Ontario’s recent history will not be subjected to the federal government’s rigorous assessment process, meant to ensure overarching laws that protect habitat, species at risk, fisheries, watersheds and Indigenous rights are followed. 

The report came in response to a designation request submitted by Environmental Defence on October 21, supported by other environmental non-profits, over 100 scientists as well as residents about the potential adverse effects of the highway on fish and fish habitat, migratory birds, and species at risk which are under federal jurisdiction. 

Other concerns raised included effects to wildlife, wildlife habitat, natural heritage areas, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, cumulative effects, air quality and health, the need for the highway and consideration of transportation alternatives, urbanization, adequacy of provincial legislation and mechanisms, including the new Highway 413 Act, 2024 and its controversial allowance of early works, along with required input from impacted Indigenous communities.

According to Environmental Defence, many of these issues were ignored by IAAC officials who authored the report. 

“By refusing to assess the many dangers that Highway 413 would pose in areas of federal responsibility, both Prime Minister Trudeau and MPs in the government caucus are really abandoning their responsibility to protect federally listed endangered fish species, and that is a clear federal responsibility, and not something that falls in provincial jurisdiction,” Phil Pothen, Ontario Environment Program Manager with Environmental Defence, told The Pointer.

In the latest report, IAAC admits that “The Project has the potential to cause adverse effects in federal jurisdiction and direct or incidental adverse effects.”

However, existing legislative mechanisms and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the PC government last year “provide a framework for addressing public concerns about potential adverse effects within federal jurisdiction and potential adverse impacts on the rights of Indigenous peoples,” as per the IAAC.

The IAAC noted that there is a “means other than an impact assessment”—referring to other legal mechanisms in the Fisheries Act, SARA, Endangered Species Act, 2007, and the Ontario Heritage Act—that can address the “potential adverse effects within federal jurisdiction, and the direct or incidental adverse effects.”

The problem is these measures place significant trust in a provincial government that has faced criticism for weakening environmental protections and ignoring laws put in place to protect species on the brink of extinction.

Calling the IAAC decision “the first and original betrayal,” Pothen criticizes “the minister's decision to delegate what is ultimately his own decision to this agency, which is notorious for finding every excuse it can not to designate projects for impact assessment.”

Pothen also takes issue with the clear contradiction on display by the IAAC. The Agency claims existing provincial laws are enough to mitigate any potential impacts, but these very provincial laws have been significantly weakened under the PCs—or are simply not followed—and were a main reason for requesting the IAAC step in in the first place. 

The project will require authorizations under a number of federal laws, including the Fisheries Act. But these mechanisms and permits are simply approvals that come along with mitigation measures to avoid harm to a species. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) rarely denies a permit request.  

According to the report, the PCs plan to mitigate harm to fish by timing construction to avoid in-water activities during specific times of the year. It’s unclear who will monitor this pledge as Ford’s Highway 413 Act allows construction on the new highway to be carried out 24 hours a day.

There is no guarantee these measures will avoid harm, and there is evidence at the provincial level that they are sometimes not even followed. 

The analysis report makes it clear the PC government has a long way to go in the studies for this project, which makes it even more concerning that Ford continues to insist the highway will begin construction next year. 

The IAAC noted that government ministries will still require detailed information to make decisions around permits, and had yet to see any related to migratory birds, fish, or species at risk. 

It is clear the federal government is placing a lot of faith in the PC government to be good environmental stewards.

There is little evidence to suggest they will be anything close to that and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest the opposite.

The PCs have dismantled environmental legislation meant to protect species at risk; are under criminal investigation by the RCMP for trying to open chunks of the protected Greenbelt (something Highway 413 will most certainly do if its constructed); have taken powers away from conservation authorities—organizations responsible for managing our natural spaces; eliminated the role of Ontario’s chief scientist; completely rewrote provincial planning policies in order to benefit sprawl developers, putting remaining greenspace, farmland and climate change mitigation efforts at risk; and rushed ahead with the Bradford Bypass, using an outdated study more than two decades old; Premier Doug Ford has shown he’s willing to do it all. 

In the latest Auditor General report, it was found that the Ford government was ignoring its legal obligations under the Environmental Bill of Rights, choosing to mislead Ontarians instead of providing accurate information about the legislative changes being made that could impact the environment. 

They are doing the same thing with Highway 413. 

In a recent taxpayer-funded advertising campaign, the Ford government claims its road projects, including Highway 413, will cut daily commutes by “up to an hour” each day.

The provincial government’s latest ad campaign.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer)

A Ministry of Transportation spokesperson explained the travel time savings were calculated using an “area-wide transportation model”, which compared scenarios with and without the Bradford Bypass corridor for various key origin-destination pairs in the region.

“Modelling indicates that up to an hour can be saved. The time savings were calculated using various scenarios,” according to the MTO .

The Pointer followed up to request detailed reports on these scenarios and the transportation model but did not receive a response.

The Province’s own internal data reveal drivers will only save a few minutes on east-west travel, but they will encounter even worse traffic congestion once they reach the 401 West or 400 East at the highway’s endpoints.

Nathani, with Green Ummah, commutes by public transportation and expressed disappointment with the government's approach. “[S]hifting toward an even more car-centric model doesn't make sense right now, especially as we're continuing to emit more and more carbon."

In its analysis, the IAAC notes that greenhouse gas emissions are not considered part of transboundary effects or environmental impacts that cross borders under the IAAC. Research from Environmental Defence warns that if Highway 413 is built, the vehicles using the highway will emit over 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2050 and cause over $1 billion in damages from air pollution.

Wildlife, water and watershed systems do not respect imaginary boundaries set up by different levels of government. It’s unclear why laws in place to protect the environment would be designed in such a way to limit the ability of the IAAC to consider the impacts of Highway 413 which evidence shows will ripple far out from the lands under the jurisdiction of the federal government. 

The analysis report states that “with the information IAAC currently understands”, the impact from the highway “would be limited” by proper mitigation measures. 

But this does not account for how building this highway will lock Ontarians into more car-dependent transportation and trigger wide swaths of urban sprawl, meaning more and more people will rely on vehicles to get around. This will fuel the climate crisis that is already causing unprecedented damage across the country. 

The failure of the government to designate this highway is not only ignoring its laws put in place to protect species at risk and migratory birds, but ignores the many agreements and pledges it has made domestically and nationally, including Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) which as adopted in December 2022 at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta and Nova Scotia have the greatest number of edge of extinction species in Canada.

(Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada)

According to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada, there are over 100 laws across the country that are intended to protect biodiversity, but none provide comprehensive protection for species and ecosystems.

Overview of the 23 targets of the KMGBF.

(Government of Canada)

We are at a critical juncture where the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions can no longer be ignored. Building infrastructure that contributes to rising emissions is no longer a feasible option.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed 2024 was the hottest year on record, with global temperatures reaching 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

In Canada, the consequences of a warming climate are already becoming evident. 

A new report from the Insurance Bureau of Canada reveals that insured damages from severe weather events in 2024 exceeded $8 billion. This marks a historic first, with the total damage nearly tripling the losses of 2023 and reaching 12 times the annual average between 2001 and 2010.

While the “single most-destructive weather event in 2024” was the August hailstorm in Calgary, which caused $3 billion in damage in just over an hour, flash flooding in Toronto and the GTA cost the region $990 million on July 15 and 16.

2024 broke the record as Canada's costliest year for severe weather losses, reaching $8.5 billion.

(Insurance Bureau of Canada)

The summer of 2024 proved to be the most destructive season in Canadian history, with wildfires, floods and hail storms racking up unprecedented insured losses. 

“In just two months, July and August, four catastrophic weather events resulted in over $7 billion in insured losses and more than a quarter of a million insurance claims – 50 percent more than Canadian insurers typically receive in an entire year,” the report notes.

Canada’s Top 10 Highest Insured Severe-Weather Loss Years on Record.

(Insurance Bureau of Canada)

A recent study also highlights a worrying trend in Canadian forests. The research shows that, in recent decades, forests are more prone to severe fires, and the conditions needed for high-severity fires have increased, especially in northern areas affected by climate change. Between 1981 and 2020, six percent of areas saw a significant rise in fire-prone days, with the most intense periods occurring from 2001 to 2020. “The extraordinary 2023 fire season demonstrated similar spatial patterns but more-widespread escalations in burn severity,” the study notes.

The Los Angeles wildfire, which has destroyed more than 12,300 structures across 40,000 acres as of January 14, with the death toll rising to 24, and 16 individuals still missing, serves as a stark reminder that climate change often fuels such natural disasters, and governments must do everything in their power to curb the rising temperatures.

In response to the growing environmental as well as gridlock challenges, cities like New York are beginning to take steps toward a more sustainable future. 

On January 5, New York City launched its historic congestion pricing program which requires drivers entering Manhattan south to pay a toll, with most vehicles charging $9 during peak hours. Premier Ford has made a push to do the opposite, eliminating tolls on highways 412 and 418, and making commitments that the 413 and Bradford Bypass will not be tollroads. 

While this marks the first congestion pricing initiative in the U.S., it follows the example of London, which has successfully implemented a similar program for over 20 years, providing valuable lessons for other cities like New York.

Rather than drawing inspiration from metropolitan cities with similar traffic challenges, the Ford government’s solution is to overlook more sustainable alternatives, and what the residents truly need.

A 2024 EKOS poll shows Ontarians don’t want a highway through the Greenbelt but do want the government to invest more money in public transit.

Overall, 74 percent of Ontarians agree that the “Greenbelt is no place for new highways.” In Toronto that figure is 81 percent.

(Greenbelt Foundation)

“Highway 413, is a terrible, terrible threat to the Greenbelt. I'm very disappointed that there won't be a federal assessment,” David Suzuki Foundation’s Climate Change and Transportation Policy Analyst Gideon Forman said in an interview with The Pointer.

“However, I can tell you that I have never seen so much grassroots and expert opposition to Highway 413 and so, we will continue to push and continue our campaign to stop the highway.” 

This was not the first designation request for Highway 413. 

On February 3, 2021, Ecojustice, on behalf of Environmental Defence, submitted a request, followed by one from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation on March 3, 2021, both raising similar concerns to the current request.  

On May 3, 2021, the Minister designated the project, then known as the GTA West Project, citing potential unmitigated harm to critical habitats of federally listed species at risk. At the time, the project was undergoing an Individual Environmental Assessment under Ontario’s Environmental Assessment Act, with plans for a streamlined process allowing early works.  

Subsequent legal and regulatory actions included a Supreme Court ruling on the Impact Assessment Act’s constitutionality and a judicial review by Ontario which led to the 2021 designation order being set aside in April 2024.  

A Canada-Ontario Memorandum of Understanding was then established, creating a joint working group to address federal environmental concerns and Indigenous consultation.

On December 20, IAAC President Terence Hubbard made the decision to not designate Highway 413 for a full federal review.

Email: [email protected]

At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories to ensure every resident of Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you