Doug Ford signals strong support for controversial Highway 413

My way is the highway.

That's the message from Premier Doug Ford when it comes to controversial developments like Highway 413 and the Bradford bypass.

Ford, who was on a campaign-style swing to Windsor on Monday, is signalling that the Progressive Conservatives' road to re-election will be paved with asphalt.

We're pouring $144 billion into infrastructure, building hospitals, building schools, and we're twinning the roads down here - highways right across this province," he said.

That was a reference to the long-awaited widening of Highway 3 between Essex and Leamington.

But the Tories are also promoting massive Greater Toronto Area projects and have launched a multimillion dollar advertising blitz to tout that.

It's going to save a tremendous amount of time," Ford insisted Friday of the proposed Highway 413 connecting Milton from Highway 401 to Highway 400 at Vaughan.

He disputed a study by the previous Liberal government, which cancelled the scheme, claiming it would only save drivers between 30 to 60 seconds on their commutes.

The Ministry of Transportation counters the 60-km highway could save motorists 30 minutes.

Highway 413, which is opposed by affected local municipalities, would raze 2,000 acres of farmland, cut through 85 waterways and pave over some 400 acres of protected greenbelt land in Vaughan.

Folks, we're a growing province. We're one of the fastest-growing jurisdictions in North America. We see the influx of people coming here, which I welcome. We need more people to fill the jobs," the premier said.

The highways are congested everywhere. It doesn't matter what 400-series highway you take, no matter if it's the 401, which is like a parking lot or going in the 403 and so on, so forth," he said.

We need more people to get from point A to point B in a much more faster fashion that they can spend time with their families, and we can transport goods from point A to point B."

Ford is also a booster of the proposed Bradford bypass, a 16.2-km highway connecting Highway 400 and Highway 404 that would cross 27 waterways and cut through environmentally sensitive Holland Marsh lands.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, a former transportation minister, said Highway 413 is a boondoggle" that could cost $10 billion and would do little to help commuters.

I paused this highway the first time. We then stopped it. Doug Ford and his team have resurrected it obviously for political reasons," Del Duca told reporters Monday at Queen's Park."

It's the wrong thing to do," he said of what he called a sprawl-spreading highway."

But Del Duca stressed there are big differences" with the Bradford bypass, which he said merits consideration.

There is broad-based municipal support. There's a lot of growth in that area," he said.

In the run-up to the June 2 provincial election, Ford's Tories unveiled three TV ads last week that portray the premier as an optimistic builder and his main rivals as pesky pessimists.

I hear it all the time, politicians are famous for finding reasons to say no.' That's not me. I'm Doug Ford, leader of the Ontario PCs, and we're the party saying yes,'" an ebullient premier says over footage of him happily meeting voters.

Yes, to building highways you can drive on, so you don't sit in gridlock," he continues.

A separate 30-second television commercial, which was broadcast during Sunday's prime-time NFL game, blasts NDP Leader Andrea Horwath as a politician who says one thing and does another."

She talks about tackling the housing crisis but opposes building more homes. She says she's against gridlock but opposes building highways," the female narrator says as the message, No, to the 413 highway," flashes across the screen.

Horwath said it's no secret" she opposes Highway 413.

I'm proud to be a protector of the environment," she said last week. I'm proud to say that I don't believe we need to be building new highways, plowing through the greenbelt, plowing through farmland."

Green Leader Mike Schreiner urged Ford on Monday to scrap the highway.

We're in a climate emergency and need to do everything possible to drastically reduce pollution, yet we now learn that Doug Ford is doubling down on Highway 413," said Schreiner.

Building more highways increases congestion through induced demand and supercharges emissions through urban sprawl."

Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie