Opposition gearing up for round two in fight against GTA West Highway
Graphic from the Government of Ontario
The GTA West Corridor would probably create the same result, at least for developers, opening up large tracts of farmland for sprawling subdivisions. The industry is already drooling at the prospect of large swaths of land being unlocked inside the corridor, which would run west from Vaughan through Caledon, then arc southwest, skirting the edge of Brampton on its way toward the 401/407 between Mississauga and Milton. It would pass on or near the edge of protected areas such as the provincial Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. And Ford has previously shown a desire to keep the development industry happy.
The province’s choice to go back to a discarded plan for a new highway from Vaughan to the 401, skirting Brampton, is a “1950s solution to a 2020 problem,” according to those concerned about the environmental impact.
The argument that it will ease traffic congestion in the GTA is undermined by a 2015 panel’s findings that the benefits of the project were overblown. But opponents will find they’re up against formidable forces in the development industry and a Doug Ford government determined to help them.
Published on June 24, 2019 in The Pointer - Brampton
