In the midst of an election campaign in Ontario, the one thing that’s not really up for debate by any party is that Canada’s history should never be paved over – much less by a highway.
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But that is precisely what some residents fear is about to happen in an area known as the Lower Landing, on the Holland River about 60 kilometres north of Toronto.
Home to a navy depot during the War of 1812, the area is part of a bigger agricultural zone all too familiar to commuters and cottagers as they’re stuck in traffic entering and leaving the city. A new highway is about to speed things up – at the expense of the delicate land beneath it.
The Bradford Bypass is a 16.2-kilometre, four-lane stretch of road that the government of Ontario has already committed to – even before its own environmental studies are complete.
It’s designed to connect the congested north-south arteries of Highway 400 and the 404. The Bradford Bypass’s proposed route passes over the Holland River and cuts through part of the Holland Marsh, which has some of the province’s richest and rarest soil.
Even farmers who nominally support more roads to move their goods say this region is no place for a highway — though not all think that way. Some farmers and farm groups insist a highway is needed to deal with traffic congestion, which costs farmers money as they try to move their goods to market.
The Ford government is staking its electoral fortunes on infrastructure, which includes repairing or building highways and bridges. But in a province that’s grappling with massive health-care and education needs, including a multi-billion-dollar backlog for fixing schools, this is madness, critics say.
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‘No place’ for a highway
Caught in the middle of the battle over the future of rural Ontario is Thomas To, a former city dweller who decided to move with his…